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AMER1CAN>^ 


Historical  Koyels 


Hot  Flovshares 
Figs  and  Thistles 

A  Royal  Gentleman 
A  Fool's  Errand 

Bricks  WITHOUT  Straw 

By    ALBION    W.    TOUKGEE,    I.L.D. 

An  extraordinary  line  of  novels,  graphically  present- 
ing the  life  of  a  generation,  from  the  rise  of  the  Anti- 
Slavery  sentiment,  through  the  Rebellion,  to  the  end 
of  the  Reconstruction  Era.  As  novels,  of  surpassing 
interest  and  power  ;  as  history,  of  recognized  value. 

"  Scarcely  anything  in  fiction  so  powerful  has  been 
written,  from  a  merely  literary  stand-point,  as  these 
books  ['FooLs  Errand"  and  '  Bricks  Without  Straw"]. "'' 
— A>r/\g;AV/rt'(]\Iass.)  Republican. 
"  "  He  possesses  in  an  uncommon  degree  the  traits  of 
a  strong  and  accomplished  writer,  and  the  power  of 
constructing  and  narrating  a  story  which  is  at  once 
intensely  interesting  and  profoundly  thoughtful.^" — 
Boston  Daily  Advertiser. 

'"Among  the  famous  novels  that,  once  written,  must 
be  read  by  everybody."' — Portland  (l\t..)  Ad-rertiser. 

"  The  characters  are  real  creations  of  romance, 
who  will  live  alongside  of  Mrs.  Stowe"s  or  Walter 
Scott's  till  the  times  that  gave  them  birth  have  been 
forgotten.'" — Adz'a7tce,  Chicago. 

'■  Romancist,  sage,  publicist,  politician  and  philos- 
opher in  one." — Concord  Monitor. 

***  Ur.i/orm  Illustrated  Edition  Per  Vol.,  $1.50 ; 
the  Set  {Ji-oe  z'olutnes),  in  a  Box^  $7.50. 


BLACK   ICE 


BY 


ALBION  W.  TOURGEE 

AUTHOR   OF    "a    fool's    ERRAND;"    "  HOT    PLOWSHARES;"    "  URICKS    WITHOl'T 

STRAW;"  "figs  and  thistles;"  etc 


\         .        '  j'        '  '''»!'»''>' 


NEW  YORK 
FORDS,    HOWARD,   &   HULBERT 

1888 


Copyrighted,  1885, 
By  A.  W.  TouRGEE. 


Dr.   WILLIAM    CHACE, 

WHO  IS  INSEPARABLY  ASSOCIATED  WITH  THE  DAYS  OF  PAIN, 
WHEN  THE  PAGES  THAT  FOLLOW  WERE  WRITTEN, — TO  WHOSE 
SAGACIOUS  KINDNESS  AND  CHEERFUL  PRESENCE,  RATHER  THAN 
TO  THE  DRUGS  AND  SIMPLES  WHICH  ARE  USUALLY  ACCOUNTED 
THE  PHYSICIAN'S  ARMAMENT,  IS  IN  GREAT  MEASURE  DUE  THE 
FACT  THAT  THEY  WERE  WRITTEN  AT  ALL, — THIS  VOLUME  IS 
GRATEFULLY    INSCRIBED. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAGB 

In  Situ, 9 


CHAPTER  n. 
A  Slippery  Subject, 20 

CHAPTER  HI. 
A  Rugged  Esculapian, 41 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Some  Foolish  Notions, 64 

CHAPTER  V. 

Advised  and  Enjoined,     .......    90 

CHAPTER  VI. 
"  In  Truth,  it  was  a  Goodly  Company,"     ■   .        .        .116 

CHAPTER  VII. 
The  School-ma'am's  Story, i37 


6  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

PAGE 

Saddlebags  TO  THE  Rescue! i6i 

CHAPTER  IX. 
A  WoFUL  Night, 183 

CHAPTER  X. 
"  Personal  AND  Confidential," 196 

CHAPTER  XI. 
The  Ordeal  of  "  No.  i," 212 

CHAPTER  XII. 
For  a  Lady's  Favor, 237 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
A  Stubborn  Knight 287 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
The  Breaking  of  the  Seal .  298 

CHAPTER  XV. 
Too  Finely  Tempered, 319 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
A  Fool's  Punishment 331 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
Some  Raveled  Threads 346 


CONTENTS.  7 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

PAGE 

"  A  Poor,  Weak  Woman," 353 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
The  End  of  the  Chase 368 

CHAPTER  XX. 
A  Midnight  Horror, 381 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
In  the  Pale  Moonlight,  ......  396 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
Told  by  To-morrow,         .....,,  419 


BLACK   ICE. 


CHAPTER   I. 

IN    SITU. 


pERCIVAL  REYNOLDS,  Civil  and  Mining 
Engineer,  somewhat  past  forty,  fairly  well 
known  as  an  expert  in  my  profession  and  not 
altogether  unknown  in  certain  scientific  lines  out- 
side of  it;  Hester,  my  wife,  a  comely  matron  some 
years  younger,  though  the  struggles  that  have 
brought  me  somewhat  of  success  have  given  her 
gray  hairs;  and  Bertha,  our  daughter,  aged  thir- 
teen,—  these  constitute  our  household.  Man-like, 
I  have  named  myself  first — perhaps  because  so- 
cial convention  has  imposed  my  name  as  a  sort 
of  proprietary  stamp  on  the  other  members  of 
this  agnatic  group.  Named  in  the  order  of  their 
rank  the  category  would  be  reversed.  What  is 
to  be  is  always  of  more  importance  than  what 
has  been,  and  in  our  high-pressure  age  the  future 


10  BLACK  ICE. 

crowds  .us  to  the  wall  almost  before  we  have 
lived  out- half  of  Ihp  ;. allotted  span.  So,  in  our 
faniily.  grbap,,' ;the'-mptber!s  -life  is  being  already- 
absorbed  by  'the  destiny"-  th'at  lies  before  the 
daughter;  and  as  for  myself — well,  the  only  role 
that  has  been  discovered  which  I  seem  at  all 
fitted  to  enact  is  one  played  solely  for  their  bene- 
fit. I  do  not  mean  to  imply  that  I  am  any  less 
selfish  than  other  men — only  my  selfishness  takes 
this  particular  form  and  includes  them  in  its 
scope. 

I  am  not  at  all  cosmopolitan,  and,  strange  as 
it  may  seem  to  the  self-flattering  contemners  of 
our  American  life,  have  no  desire  to  be.  I  have 
felt  the  pulse  of  the  old  world  at  many  points  at 
home  and  abroad,  and  studied  its  various  phases 
as  one  does  the  specimens  from  different  strata 
of  a  mine  in  order  to  judge  its  extent,  character, 
and  the  reliability  of  its  output,  but  I  have  found 
nowhere  the  promise  of  a  better  or  truer  devel- 
opment than  that  which  is  taking  form  in  our 
Western  world.  In  my  opinion  its  especial  excel- 
lence consists  not  so  much  in  its  resemblance  to 
the  old-world  life,  as  in  the  differences  generated 
by  new  conditions.  The  gilding  is  perhaps  some- 
what better  done  abroad — more  smoothly  laid 
on,   and    perhaps   better    calculated    to   deceive — 


IN  SITU.  11 

but  there  is  no  better  workmanship  in  any  line 
than  our  life  exhibits,  and  a  decidedly  lower  av- 
erage both  of  finish  and   material. 

But  if  I  am  not  cosmopolitan,  neither  can  I 
claim  a  place  in  the  front  rank  of  good  Ameri- 
cans, being  neither  a  politician,  a  philanthropist, 
nor  a  reformer.  I  try  to  do  my  duty  as  a  citizen, 
and  never  allow  a  primary  to  be  held  in  the  vil- 
lage without  attending  and  giving  my  voice  for 
what  I  think  fair  and  honest  in  the  party  to 
which  I  belong.  If  in  spite  of  this  the  party 
goes  wrong  in  my  judgment,  I  do  my  share  of 
scolding,  and  sometimes  refuse  it  my  support  at 
the  polls.  So,  too,  while  not  a  philanthropist,  I 
hate  an  ill-ventilated  mine,  an  unsafe  building, 
or  a  railroad-bridge  built  of  pot-metal,  on  a 
strain-sheet  calculated  for  *'  prime  Bessemer."  I 
do  not  feel  called  upon,  however,  to  preach  a 
crusade  against  even  these  evils,  especially  since 
my  great  work  on  the  necessity  for  an  inspec- 
tion and  testing  of  all  iron  used  in  such  struc- 
tures, in  order  to  prevent  the  terrible  accidents 
that  occur  for  lack  of  such  a  simple  provision, 
fell  unheeded  from  the  press.  Of  course,  being 
neither  a  politician  nor  a  philanthropist,  I  cannot 
claim  to  be  a  reformer,  I  believe  that  fair  is 
fair,   and    think    the    man    both    a    coward    and    a 


12  BLACK  ICE. 

fool  who  simply  sits  down  and  snivels  because 
something  goes  wrong  without  doing  anything 
to  improve  it.  So,  if  the  tares  get  too  high  in 
our  little  corner  of  the  moral  vineyard,  I  am 
willing  to  do  my  part  to  help  tramp  them  out, 
and  mean  to  do  it  whether  others  help  or  not. 
I  must  confess,  however,  that  I  like  the  good 
side  of  humanity  better  tlian  its  evil  phases, 
whether  considered  individually  or  collectively, 
and  do  not  ever  feel  inclined  to  organize  what 
might  be  termed  in  Western  phrase  a  "round- 
up" of  the  shortcomings  of  others.  So  I  love 
myself  and  my  household — chiefly,  I  suppose,  be- 
cause they  minister  to  my  vanity — so  well  that 
everything  I  do  seems  onl}'-  w^aste  and  dross  if  it 
does  not  somehow  add  to  their  enjoyment.  I 
have  a  very  cosy  corner  in  my  nature  for  the 
few  I  call  my  friends,  a  special  kindliness  for 
those  who  are  fortunate  enougii  to  be  VL\\r  neigh- 
bors, and  no  particular  spite  against  the  world 
in  general.  So  greatly  does  my  regard  for  hu- 
mankind depend  on  proximity,  however,  that  I 
have  often  thought  that  Newton's  law  of  radia- 
tion would  hardly  prove  erroneous  if  applied 
to  me.  Though  my  w^orld  is  a  very  narrow  one, 
I  know  it  is  but  one  of  an  infinite  series  of  con- 
federated  realms,   self-directing   yet  mutually  in- 


IN  SITU.  13 

terdependent,  which  make  up  the  sum  of  our 
new-world  life,  and  consequently  appraise  the 
whole  on  the  basis  of  the  value  of  a  known  ali- 
quot part.  Thus,  I  am  one  of  those  who  believe 
•that,  though  our  American  life  may  be  self-suf- 
ficient and  self-conscious,  it  is  also  self-reliant 
and  full  of  worthy  aspiration. 

We  dwell  at  Cragholt,  a  siglitly  place  overlook- 
ing the  village  of  Gladesboro,  its  threshold  just 
two  hundred  and  thirty-nine  feet  four  inches 
above  the  low-water  mark  of  the  river  that  flows 
by  the  base  of  the  hill  on  which  it  stands,  and 
one  hundred  and  ninety-seven  and  a  half  feet 
above  the  track  of  the  railroad  that  creeps  by  on 
the  other  side  as  if  dreading  the  plunge  it  makes 
a  mile  away  into  the   mountain-side. 

In  the  social  scale  we  may  be  said  to  occupy 
a  middle  place.  Measured  by  that  golden  rule 
by  which  social  gradation  is  always  determined 
by  American  habit,  we  are  neither  rich  nor  poor. 
Of  what  we  need  we  have  enough,  and  of  what 
is  not  absolutely  essential  more  than  many  can 
afford.  We  are  not  as  rich  as  I  once  hoped  to  be, 
nor  as  poor  as  I  have  often  feared  we  might  be. 
For  myself,  I  am  very  democratic.  I  have  usually 
found  a  stone-mason  better  company  than  a  mil- 
lionaire, and  consequently  would  rather  talk  with 


14  BLACK  ICE. 

him.  My  neiglibors  call  me  a  "plain  man,"  with- 
out any  intention  to  offend.  My  wife  has  a  good 
deal  of  the  genuine  American  feeling  that  we 
are  "as  good  as  anybody  else" — if  not  a  little 
better.  She  would  be  glad  to  have  me  pay 
rather  more  heed  to  the  conventionalities  and 
recognize  a  little  more  fully  the  sovereignty  of 
what  is  termed  good  society.  But  while  Science 
may  find  time  for  an  after-dinner  cigar  and  now 
and  then  a  friend,  she  is  a  mortal  enemy  to  dress- 
coats  and  satin  slippers.  While  Hester,  therefore, 
fights  gallantly  for  the  leadership  of  our  village 
life,  and  Bertha  goes  to  the  city  for  some  of  her 
accomplishments,  my  only  contribution  to  the 
struggle  for  social  precedence  is  the  house  I 
have  planned,  builded,  and  half-hidden  with 
masses  of  contrasted  foliage,  the  broad,  finely- 
graded,  well-drained  road  that  winds  down  the 
hill  to  the  village  streets,  and  a  span  of  trotters 
that  do  not  "  take  anybody's  dust  "  upon  the 
road.  The  latch-string  of  Cragholt  always  hangs 
out  to  my  friends,  but  for  all  forms  of  fashion- 
able rout  I  have  neither  fear  nor  favor.  To 
reconcile  these  predilections  of  mine  wdth  the 
demands  of  society  is  the  one  ever-puzzling 
problem  of  Hester's  life.  A  most  rigorous  sense 
of  duty  compels  her   to  see  to  it  that  the  world 


IN  SITU.  15 

does  not  forget  our  existence  nor  ignore  our 
claim  to  recognition.  At  the  same  time  she 
recoo-nizes  the  fact  that  it  is  essential  to  modify 
and  adjust  her  social  relations  so  as  to  harmon- 
ize wiLli  my  idiosyncrasies.  The  task  is  a  dif- 
ficult one,  and  I  am  often  called  upon  to  admire 
the  exquisite  skill  with  which  she  makes  the  web 
of  social  duty  cover  at  once  the  demands  of 
friendship  and  of  fashion.  She  often  yields  much 
and  I  sometimes  a  little,  so  that  she  is  one  of 
the  leaders  in  our  circle  at  <Gladesboro,  and  not 
altogether  unknown  in  the  social  life  of  the  great 
metropolis,  while  I  remain  the  unconventional 
recluse  of  Cragholt,  without  any  serious  strain 
upon  the  domestic  machinery  on  account  of  this 
apparent  incongruity.  I  suppose  this  very  con- 
trast is  one  of  the  things  that  has  united  us  so 
closely.  She  is  not  at  all  scientifically  inclined, 
though  she  has  mastered  something  of  scientific 
lore, — just  for  the  sake  of  enjoying  to  the  full 
my  modest  triumphs,  I  suppose;  but  I  am  sure 
she  would  not  have  been  exactly  happy  with  a 
husband  who  was  not  a  specialist,  and  equally 
sure  I  could  never  have  been  half  as  fond  of  a  wife 
who  insisted  on  keeping  step  with  me  in  my  own 
path.  So  it  seems  to  me,  at  least;  but  I  cannot 
think  of   Hester  as  anything  different  from  what 


16  BLACK  ICE. 

she    is.     If    she  were    anytliing    else,  I    suppose    I 
should  prefer  that  in  the  same  wa\\ 

I  should  sa3%  in  concluding  this  introduction 
of  our  household,  that  Bertha  is  what  is  known 
as  a  '' spoiled  child."  She  has  always  had  what- 
ever she  wished  that  our  means  could  compass, 
and  curiously  enough  has  never  desired  anything 
she  ought  not  to  have.  So  at  least  li^e  think. 
Perhaps  instead  of  "  we"  the  word  should  be 
"I,"  for,  in  addition  to  being  indulged  to  the 
top  of  her  bent  by  both  parents,  she  has  been 
specifically  and  peculiarly  spoiled  by  her  father. 
She  has  climbed  mountains,  explored  mines, 
hunted,  fished,  ridden  and  driven  with  me  over 
more  of  the  earth's  surface  than  falls  to  the  lot 
of  many  people  to  see  in  a  lifetime.  More  than 
that,  she  is  fond  of  all  the  unwomanly  things  I 
have  taught  her  to  do.  She  has  even  taken  a 
fancy  to  some  phases  of  science,  and,  accom.- 
panied  by  a  great  Saint  Bernard,  has  tramped 
over  the  whole  region  about  Cragholt  in  search 
of  specimens  for  her  cabinet,  of  which  she  is 
justly  proud.  I  suppose  the  tendency  is  inherited 
— and  probabh'  incurable.  In  the  mean  time  her 
education,  in  the  ordinary  acceptance  of  that 
much-abused  term,  has  been  sadly  neglected. 
Thanks    in    part     to    her     own     inclination,    she 


IN  SITU.  17 

dances  almost  as  well  as  she  swims,  sings  almost 
as  well  as  she  whistles,  and  plays  a  fair  enough 
accompaniment.  When  I  add  that  she  is  a  reas- 
onably good  shot,  sits  a  saddle  as  well  as  a  cow- 
boy, and  "  pulls  a  good  rein"  on  the  road,  the 
list  of  her  accomplishments  is  well-nigh  closed. 
Of  late  her  mother  has  deprived  me  somewhat 
of  her  society,  and  she  is  now  learning  to  thread 
the  paths  of  wisdom  under  the  guidance  of  the 
teachers  in  the  village  school.  Slie  is  a  terrible 
"  tomboy,"  yet  withal  a  healthy,  brave  little  lady, 
of  whom  her  father  is  very  proud,  and  whose 
faults  her  mother  cannot  recount  without  show- 
ing symptoms  of  like  appreciative  regard.  There 
was  one  accomplishment  she  lacked  at  the  time 
this  story  begins,  the  want  of  which  was  a  con- 
stant grief  to  me — she  did  not  skate  j  not  that  there 
was  any  mental  or  physical  infirmity  that  pre- 
vented, but  just  there  her  mother  drew  the  line, 
and  on  it  set  her  foot  —  a  solid  though  very 
shapely  foot,  by  the  way — with  the  defiant  dec- 
laration that  her  daughter  should  never  learn  to 
propel  herself  on  two  bits  of  polished  steel. 

Such  is  our  household — poor  material  enough 
for  romance — just  the  middle  of  that  life  of 
which  the  modern  masters  of  the  art  of  story- 
telling  inform   us   that   the    heights  are   not   high 

2 


18  BLACK  ICE. 

enough  and  the  depths  not  deep  enough  for  ro- 
mantic contrast.  They  tell  us  that  fiction  is  of 
necessity  limited  by  its  sterile  commonplaces  to 
laborious  self-dissection  and  elaborated  display 
of  the  results  of  morbid  mental  anatomy.  Yet 
somehow  the  air  about  Cragholt  seems  to  be 
charged  with  some  subtle  fluid  which  has  almost 
convinced  me  that  love  is  not  yet  eliminated 
from  our  common  life.  I  have  even  begun  to 
doubt  whether  self  consciousness  and  indecision 
are  the  dominant  characteristics  of  our  people, 
and  to  question  whether  pettiness,  cowardice,  and 
insincerity  are  genuinely  distinctive  phases  of  the 
average  American  character.  I  am  not  intimate- 
ly acquainted  with  the  methods  of  analysis  by 
which  such  results  have  been  obtained,  but  judge 
that  they  must  be  largely  reflexive  in  character, 
and  that  the  analysts,  instead  of  painting  a  life 
which  they  have  seen,  have  merely  given  us  the 
shadow  of  one  they  have  felt:  mistaking  them- 
selves for  types  rather  than  sports  of  the  great 
life,  they  tliink  it  the  real  function  of  art  to  be- 
little. Taking  men  and  women  as  I  find  them 
in  and  about  Gladesboro,  and  subjecting  them  to 
fair  qualitative  tests,  I  must  say  I  find  more  and 
richer  streaks  of  '' pay  dirt "  about  them  than  the 
new  triturating    processes    appear    to    yield.     For 


IN  SITU.  19 

myself,  I  must  confess  I  am  glad  of  it,  for  I  had 
come  to  think  that  if  tlie  life  which  is  portrayed 
in  our  so-called  "realistic  fiction"  is  a  fair  aver- 
age product  of  our  institutions,  the  time  cannot 
be  far  distant  when  the  killing  of  an  American 
will  be  no  more  properly  accounted  homicide 
than  the  drowning  of  supernumerary  puppies. 

Of  the  chain  of  incidents  herein  recorded  which 
impressed  this  conviction  still  more  deeply  on  my 
mind,  I  should  probably  have  remained  in  igno- 
rance had  it  not  been  for  the  daughter's  irrepress- 
ible desire  to  learn  the  art  of  self-propulsion 
along  the  glassy  level  laid  by  the  frost's  enchant- 
ment. 


CHAPTER  II. 

A   SLIPPERY    SUBJECT. 

"  "P\ID  you  get  the  things  I  asked  you  to  bring, 
papa?" 
I  had  returned  from  a  professional  tour  that 
had  compelled  an  absence  of  some  months  :  had 
been  whirled  up  the  hill  at  Cragholt  in  the  gray 
of  a  chill  November  evening,  by  the  restive 
trotters  who  awaited  my  arrival;  had  been  wel- 
comed with  smiles  and  kisses;  had  dined  and 
smoked,  and  was  now  lying  dreamily,  stretched 
at  length  upon  the  low  wide  couch  w^hich  Hester 
had  insisted  upon  making  a  prominent  part  of 
our  sitting-room  furnishing  for  just  such  occa- 
sions as  this.  When  a  husband  visits  his  home 
but  once  a  quarter,  he  is  sure  to  be  a  hero  for 
at  least  one  day  after  his  arrival.  I  was  enjoy- 
ing this  rarest  of  luxuries.  Bertha  sat  upon  a 
hassock  beside  me,  and  Hester  occupied  a  rocker 
within  easy  reach  of  the  daughter's  hand.  The 
glowing  firelight  was  tempered  by  an  interven- 
ing  screen.     The   astral   sent    its    softened    glow 


A    SLIPPERY  SUBJECT.  21 

to  tinge  the  steely  locks  that  clustered  in  abun- 
dance about  Hester's  brow.  Bertha's  eyes  spar- 
kled, and  her  mother's  cheek  was  tinged  with  the 
warm  glow  of  happiness.  They  were  burning  in- 
cense at  the  shrine  of  their  love.  Who  would 
not  be  a  god  ?  And  being  a  god  pro  tempore., 
who  that  has  human  instincts  would  not  tease 
his  worshipers  ?  So  I  paid  no  heed  to  the  query 
until  it  was  repeated,  and  then  answered  in  tones 
of  assumed  reproach : 

"  Have  I  brought  all  the  things  you  wished  me 
to  get  ?  Well,  I  declare  !  that  is  a  pleasant  greet- 
ing to  give  a  parent  whose  wanderings  have 
spanned  a  continent  since  you  saw  him  last,  be- 
fore he  has  had  his  wonted  after-dinner  nap  at 
home.  One  would  think  it  was  the  presents  you 
ran  to  greet  when  you  heard  my  step  in  the 
hall  instead  of  the  tired  home  comer.  Nay,  you 
need  not  throw  your  arms  about  my  neck,  put 
up  your  soft  lips  to  be  kissed,  or  glance  with 
eyes  of  arch  entreaty  at  me.  I  am  not  to  be 
pacified  in  that  manner.  I  am  not  only  insulted 
for  myself,  but  for  the  kindly  saint  who  ought 
justly  to  be  allowed  to  manage  all  such  proceed- 
ings for  himself,  especially  at  this  time  of  year. 
It  is  clearly  an  abuse  of  his  privilege  for  a  young 
lady  to  write  to  her  papa  and  even  suggest  that 


22  BLACK  ICE. 

the  multiformed  old  Myth  who  has  by  dint  of 
much  brain-sweat  been  worked  over  into  a  sort 
of  hybrid  Christian  gnome  does  not  understand 
his  business.  But  you  are  perhaps  excusable, 
for  I  am  sure  he  would  never  have  thought  of 
bringing  such  a  heterogeneous  mass  of  absurdly 
unfeminine  things  to  a  young  lady. 

*'You  are  not  a  young  lady?  Hoity-toity,  my 
blessed  bantling  !  Sits  the  wind  in  that  quarter, 
then  ?  You  are  not  a  young  lady,  eh  ?  And 
pray  how  long  will  your  bald-headed  papa,  and 
the  placid-faced  gray-haired  mamma  who  sits 
yonder  in  the  shadow  of  the  screen,  and  who 
has  long  ago  surrendered  not  only  at  discretion, 
but  all  her  discretion,  to  the  one  revised  and 
enlarged  second  edition  of  herself  w^hich  circu- 
lates unbound — just  wrapped  in  rose-tinted  vel- 
lum,— how  long  shall  we  have  to  wait  before  we 
can  speak  of  this  tyrant  of  the  household  as  a 
young  lady,  without  offending  the  dignity  of  fast- 
receding  childhood  ? 

"Till  you  are  sweet  sixteen  ? — A  matter  of  three 
years  !  No,  you  need  not  seek  to  wheedle  me 
with  snatches  of  an  old  song.  I  know  your  ways 
and  wiles  too  well.  The  very  mention  of  that 
magic  time  wakens  the  dream  of  unconscious 
womanhood   in  your  young  heart.     No,  you  can- 


A    SLIPPERY  SUBJECT.  23 

not  deceive  me.  The  transition  invisible  to  other 
eyes  already  shows  itself  to  the  paternal  vision. 
Your  mother  cannot  forget  the  babe  that  smiled 
up  into  her  face,  unconscious  of  the  anxious 
yearning  with  which  she  sought  an  answering 
love-light,  only  a  few  short  years  ago.  She  has 
not  noted,  as  I  have,  the  fact  that  your  ear  some- 
times catches  the  melodies  of  that  siren  who 
wooes  us  onward  with  alluring  strains  until  we 
have  passed  the  isle  of  hope,  and  then  sends  after 
us  down  the  stream  of  time  the  discordant  notes 
that  tell  of  blighted  dreams.  She  does  not  see 
the  shadows  that  flit  before  your  half-shut  lids, 
nor  realize  that  to  you  the  sunset  glow  is  full 
of  visions  of  the  morrow's  joy.  Already  your  un- 
conscious feet  feel  the  music  of  the  weird  pipers, 
and  are  longing  to  thread  the  mystic  mazes  of 
life's  fateful  dance. 

"Aye,  bound  away — and  in  the  twilight  of  the 
winter  day,  up  and  down  the  dim-lighted  room, 
in  and  out  among  the  shadows  with  which 
memory  peoples  it,  trace,  if  you  will,  with  fleet 
and  noiseless  steps  the  wondrous  figures  of  that 
old  Morisco  dance  which  unites  the  dreamy,  sen- 
suous languor  of  Andalusian  twilight  with  the 
prophetic  sadness  of  oriental  allegory. 

"  I    see    your   white,   arched    neck    and  willowy 


24  BLACK  ICE. 

arms  waving  in  the  dim  firelight,  as  you  weave 
the  endless  web  which  hides  and  tells  the  mystery 
of  life,  with  all  the  grace  of  the  healthy  child,  but 
yet  with  a  nameless  hint  of  coming  womanhood. 
Aye,  that  is  it:  clasp  your  white  hands  above 
your  head,  bend  your  dreamy  half  regretful  eyes 
upon  me,  and  steal  noiselessly  away  again  into 
the  gloom  that  lies  beyond  the  flickering  firelight. 
It  is  the  very  picture  of  life.  The  time  is  nigh  at 
hand  when  mind  and  memory— the  habit  of  a 
past  hallowed  with  remembered  joys  —  may  in- 
cline you  backwards  towards  us  who  sit  in  the 
gloaming,  beside  the  embers  of  life's  sacrificial 
fire,  watching  your  departure.  Ah,  then  perhaps 
the  white  hands  will  be  wrung  in  an  agony  of 
dread  and  doubt.  The  half-unwilling  limbs  will 
shrink  from  the  dim  unknown  that  lies  before; 
memory  will  seek  to  bind  you  fast  to  the  old 
home-love,  but  another  love,  imperious  and  ir- 
resistible, clutching  your  very  heart-strings,  will 
draw  3^ou  away — away  adown  the  valley  into  the 
brightness  of  a  new  life,  while  the  old  one  sinks 
into  the  shadows,  living  only  in  your  memory, 
backward  glancing  now  and  then;  becoming  dim 
tradition  to  your  children,  and  then  forever  hid- 
den in  the  rayless  night  that  shrouds  the  past. 
"  Of   all    this,   thank    God,   you    know   nothing, 


A    SLIPPERY  SUBJECT.  25 

and  never  will  until  you  stand  where  we  do  to- 
night and  look  forward  to  some  new  life  that 
springs  from  yours.  You  do  not  know  that  in 
this  weird  measure,  which  is  meant  to  tell  the 
story  of  life,  which  some  sad-eyed  interpreter  of 
destiny  must  have  wrought  out  of  dreaming 
fancies  such  as  mine  to-night,  —  you  are  but 
preening  your  wings  for  that  flight  which  will 
take  you  far  beyond  sight,  almost  beyond  mem- 
ory of  the  home  nest.  It  is  only  a  delicious  im- 
pulse to  you  now — an  impulse  that  stirs  to  rhythm 
and  motion — that  fills  the  future  with  visions  too 
vague  for  words,  yet  thrilling  nerve  and  fiber 
with  unrestful  yearning.  The  future  even  now 
is  beckoning  to  you  out  of  the  darkness.  I  see 
the  shadow  that  creeps  over  the  mother's  sweet 
face  as  she  calls  out  of  the  shaded  nook  where 
she  sits,  and,  with  a  touch  of  unconscious  pain  in 
her  voice,  bids  you  cease  the  allegory  which  your 
lithe  limbs  are  tracing  all  too  truthfully  for  our 
eyes  which  pierce  the  shadows  veiling  the  path- 
w^ay  before  your  feet — feet  that  already  yearn  for 
the  journey  of  life,  careless  of  its  flinty  path  and 
v/eary  burdens." 

So  I  spoke  to  my  daughter  Bertha  or  thought 
to  myself, — hardly  know^ing  what  was  spoken  or 
how    much    was     reverie.      As    I    always    came 


26  BLACK  ICE. 

through  the  metropolis  on  my  return,  after  the 
frequent  absences  made  necessary  by  my  pro- 
fessional labors,  I  had  become  a  sort  of  intermit- 
tent gift-purveyor  to  my  young  daughter,  who 
understood  very  thoroughly  the  plastic  nature  of 
a  father's  heart  on  his  way  home.  On  this  oc- 
casion she  was  all  impatience  to  ascertain  whether 
I  had  performed  certain  commissions  which  she 
had  transmitted  to  me  in  the  imperious  prose 
which  modern  childhood  is  apt  to  employ  in  ad- 
dressing the  errant  parent.  I  had  received  her 
letter  in  New  York  a  few  days  before,  and  had 
derived  no  little  amusement  from  its  queerly 
conglomerate  character.  No  sooner,  therefore, 
did  her  mother's  voice  recall  her  from  her  sal- 
tatory dream  than  she  perched  again  with  a 
bound  upon  the  couch  beside  me  and  renewed 
her  importunity  with  lavish  endearments  and  un- 
limited caresses.  So  the  pretty  warfare  of  en- 
treaty and  avoidance  was  renewed. 

''Well,  now,  my  dear,  that  was  an  assortment 
you  ordered,"  I  continued.  "  Did  you  think  I 
was  going  to  buy  out  a  hardware  store  for  your 
benefit  ?" 

"I  hope  you  did  not  ask  your  father  to  get 
you  any  skates,  Bertha,"  said  the  matror  ^n  the 
other  side  of  the  fireplace,  with  a  tone  betraying 


A    SLIPPERY  SUBJECT.  27 

a   decided    disapproval  of   those   bits   of   slippery 
steel. 

"Why,  my  dear,"  I  hastened  to  say,  "should 
you  suppose  that  she  would  desire  so  absurd  a 
thing?  She  only  ordered  a  boy's  knife  with  a 
big  blade  and  a  tool-box  in  the  handle,  a  scroll- 
saw,  a  turning-lathe,  a  set  of  implements  for 
repoicsse  work,  and  a  few  other  pieces  of  feminine 
machinery." 

"  Well,  I  must  say,  husband,"  exclaimed  the 
lady  of  the  house,  severely,  "I  do  hope  you  did 
not  get  her  any  of  those  things.  You  must  see 
that  you  are  simply  ruining  the  child.  Here  she 
is,  nearly  thirteen,  and  has  hardly  been  at  school 
at  all.  It  is  a  perfect  disgrace.  I  feel  thorough- 
ly ashamed  every  time  I  see  a  page  of  her  writ- 
ing to  think  that  a  child  of  mine  should  misspell 
even  the  commonest  words  at  that  age." 

"  Oh,  not  quite  so  bad  as  that,"  I  laughed. 

"Well,  pretty  nearly,"  my  wife  responded  with 
that  suppressed  energy  a  woman  gives  her  w^ords 
when  she  has  determined  not  to  recede  farther 
no  matter  what  may  be  said. 

"Oh  no,"  I  continued,  in  amused  remonstrance, 
knowing  very  well  where  the  oft  fought  battle 
woui  jnd.  The  fact  is  that,  half  against  the 
mother's    wish,    sometimes    I    fear    from    a    mere 


28  BLACK  ICE. 

spirit  of  mischief,  and  again  from  an  earnest  con- 
viction that  a  sound  body  was  the  prime  pre- 
requisite not  only  for  a  healthy  mind  but  for  a 
really  deserving  soul,  I  had  managed  to  make 
our  one  child  just  as  much  of  a  "tomboy"  as  her 
mother's  vigilance  would  allow.  As  a  result  of 
this  the  sun  and  air,  mountain  and  plain,  had 
given  her  strength,  vitality,  an  irrepressible  love 
for  nature,  and  a  fondness  for  certain  branches  of 
knowledge  so  far  out  of  the  usual  range  of  girl- 
ish accomplishment  as  to  seem  to  her  mother 
almost  to  enhance  the  lack  of  the  ordinary  school 
training,  which  has  become  so  habitual  to  our 
American  life  that  any  departure  from  its  rou- 
tine comes  to  be  looked  upon  almost  as  a  crime. 

"  Not  so  bad  as  that,  my  dear,"  I  repeated. 
"You  know  she  has  some  rather  unusual  acquire- 
ments for  her  age." 

''Yes,  I  should  think  she  had,"  came  somewhat 
decisively  from  the  maternal  lips;  ''such  as — " 

"  Such  as  the  progress  she  has  made  in  botany 
and  entomology,"  I  said,  interrupting.  "  You 
know  she  has  one  of  the  finest  collections  of  the 
Cokoptera  in  the  country,  and  I  really  think  that 
her  cabinet  of  Arachnidce  contains  absolutely 
every  variety  to  be  found  in  this  region." 

"  I    know    that    she    is    always    tramping   about 


A    SLIPPERY  SUBJECT.  29 

the  fields,  wet  or  dry,  hot  or  cold,  at  almost  any 
time  of  day  or  night,  and  all  alone,  too,  unless 
you  happen  to  be  with  her." 

''O,  mamma,  I  always  take  Pedro,"  ejaculated 
Bertha. 

"  You  mean  he  always  goes  with  you,"  returned 
the  good  wife,  almost  tartly.  ''I  think  it  would 
make  small  difference  to  you  whether  he  went  or 
not,  so  long  as  you  could  find  flies  and  bugs  and 
spiders,  or  even  toads  and  snakes,  to  bring  home  !" 

*'  Why,  mamma,  I  never  brought  home  but  one 
snake,  and  that  was  such  a  pretty  little  fellow,  I 
am  sure  he  would  not  hurt  any  one.  Indeed,  he 
could  not,  for  I  asked  papa  what  it  was,  and  when 
I  looked  it  up  I  found  that  the  whole  species  was 
entirely  harmless." 

*'  Besides,"  I  added,  anxious  to  make  a  diver- 
sion, "  you  know  she  can  ride  and  row  and  shoot, 
besides  being — " 

"  My  dear  husband,"  interrupted  my  wife,  "  is 
not  that  enough  ?  Only  think  what  a  list  of  ac- 
complishments for  a  Di  Vernon.  Would  you  have 
our  child  grow  up  a  veritable  Lady  Gay  Spanker, 
and  a  blue-stocking  beside  ?  For  me,  I  must  say, 
Mr.  Reynolds,  that  I  think  one  scientist  and  one 
sportsman  in  the  family  is  enough  as  long  as  it 
contains  but  one  man,  and  I  do  wish  you  would 


30  BLACK  ICE. 

second  my  efforts  to  have  our  daughter  study 
those  things  that  are  most  necessary  for  a  lady  to 
know." 

"I  quite  agree  with  you,  my  dear,"  I  replied; 
"  and  now  that  she  has  arrived  at  an  age  when  the 
confinement  of  school  is  not  likely  to  do  her 
harm,  I  am  sincerely  desirous  that  she  should  ac- 
quire all  those  accomplishments  which  befit  the 
station  of  the  gentlewoman." 

"  I  am  sure  I  am  glad  to  hear  you  say  so,"  was 
the  mollified  reply,  though  there  was  a  keen 
glance  in  my  direction,  which  I  could  just  catch 
by  the  firelight,  to  see  if  I  was  in  earnest;  for 
though  on  the  whole,  as  I  believe,  a  contented  and 
happy  woman,  I  must  confess  that  the  wife  of 
Percival  Reynolds,  ''  Civil  and  Mining  Engineer," 
had  somehow  a  vague  suspicion  that  her  amiable 
and  submissive  spouse  was  prone  to  jesting  at 
her  expense.  She  was  evidently  satisfied  with  her 
inspection,  and  a  glow  of  justifiable  pride  passed 
over  her  comely  countenance  as  I  added  blandly: 

"  Indeed,  my  dear,  I  am  especially  anxious  that 
she  should  possess  all  those  accomplishments  for 
which  you  are  so  justly  noted  and  which  we  have 
proved  contribute  so  much  to  the  happiness  of 
domestic  life." 

"  Well,"  she  responded  meditatively,  lifting  the 


A    SLIPPERY   SUBJECT.  31 

needle  she  had  just  knitted  out,  and  resting  its 
point  exactly  in  the  dimple  which  adorned  her 
comely  chin,  "  you  know  I  have  been  very  anxious 
about  Bertha.  It  is  true  her  health  is  good  and 
the  life  she  has  led  has  given  her  a  fine  constitu- 
tion. I  don't  object  to  her  riding  or  rowing,  or 
even  hunting  and  fishing,  now  and  then.  I  will 
admit,  too,  that  she  has  learned  many  things  that 
it  is  well  enough  for  her  to  know,  but  you  cannot 
deny  that  she  is  a  shocking  bad  scholar." 

"Why,  my  dear,"  I  interposed  with  mild  remon- 
strance, "  I  am  sure  she  is  not  behind  any  of  her 
associates  in  general  intelligence.  Her  reading  is 
really  quite  extensive  and,  I  must  say,  of  a  very 
sound  and  healthy  character.  I  doubt  if  even  her 
mother  was  so  well  informed  on  general  litera- 
ture and  current  events,  at  her  age;  and  when  it 
comes  to  natural  history  and  geology — " 

"O,  bother  natural  history  and  geology,  Percy!" 
(my  wife  always  calls  me  Percy  when  she  wishes 
to  be  especially  affectionate  or  is  afflicted  with  a 
sort  of  sub-acid  tartness  of  temper),  "you  know 
very  well  what  I  mean  !" 

"  But  I  understood  you  to  intimate  that  she  was 
unusually  dull  and  backward,  while  you  know 
very  well  that  Professor  Trilobus,  who  is  a  man 
eminent    in    his   profession    throughout   Europe  as 


32  BLACK  ICE. 

well  as  America,  says  that  he  has  rarely  met  with 
a  more  enthusiastic  and  promising  student  than 
this  same  tomboy  daughter  of  ours." 

"  Professor  Trilobus  is  well  enough  in  his  way, 
Percy,"  said  my  wife,  blandly,  "  and  I  am  glad 
that  Bertha  has  deserved  his  praise;  but  you 
know  a  woman  cannot  be  a  mere  scientist  like  a 
man  !" 

"Why  not,  my  dear^" 

"  Why  not  ?  O,  Percy,  there  is  society,  you 
know.  Up  to  a  dozen  years  old,  or  so,  tomboys 
are  well  enough,  but  after  that  they  are  simply 
horrible." 

"  Of  course,  as  she  grows  older  she  will  become 
more  absorbed  in  what  interests  her;  and  so  long 
as  she  does  not  become  an  artist  nor  an  author, 
it  seems  to  me  there  is  little  danger  of  her  ever 
regretting  a  life  that  brings  her  so  close  to  na- 
ture's heart." 

"  But  here  she  is,  thirteen  years  old,  Percy,  and 
is  yet  a  poor  arithmetician,  has  never  looked  into 
Algebra,  cannot  construe  a  sentence  of  Latin, 
and,  thanks  to  your  encouragement,  scouts  the 
idea  of  studying  English  grammar  at  all." 

''  For  all  of  which  mercies  let  us  be  duly  thank- 
ful," I  piously  ejaculated. 

"  Now    Percy,"    said   Mrs.    Reynolds,    reproach- 


A    SLIPPERY  SUBJECT.  33 

fully,  "  this  will  not  do.  You  said  a  little  while 
ago  that  you  wished  her  to  resemble  me." 

'*  In  that  I  was  most  sincere,"  I  answered  ear- 
nestly. "  Go  to  your  mamma,  dear,  and  promise 
her  that  you  will  learn  to  grow  more  like  her 
every  day  you  live." 

This  was  an  appeal  that  could  not  be  resisted; 
and  as  the  graceful  girl  stooped  over  and  kissed 
the  fair  brow,  I  saw  a  flush  of  pride  upon  the 
matronly  cheek,  and  the  next  instant  they  were 
locked  in  each  other's  arms. 

"You  must  let  her  study  what  her  mamma 
studied  at  her  age,  then,"  she  said,  as  she  held 
her  daughter  close  and  glanced  at  me  in  arch 
triumph. 

"I  would  not  have  her  omit  a  single  accom- 
plishment," 1  answered,  *'  and  in  proof  of  that 
let  me  show  you  w^hat  I  have  brought  her  that 
she  may  begin  without  delay  to  follow  in  your 
footsteps." 

I  left  the  room  to  get  a  package  from  my 
gripsack;  and  when  I  returned,  the  lamps  were 
lighted,  the  curtains  drawn,  and  only  the  steady 
beating  of  the  snow  upon  the  panes  told  that 
the  storm  was  abroad  upon  the  hills.  It  was  a 
month  yet  to  the  holidays,  but  the  winter  had 
set  in  early,  and  we  had  the  prospect  of  abundant 


34  BLACK  ICE. 

sleighing  even  for  the  Thanksgiving  v/hich  I  had 
hastened  home  to  enjoy,  where  only  a  man  with 
a  heart  in  his  bosom  is  really  able  to  affect  a 
gratitude  not  unmixed  with  discordant  murmur- 
ings.  I  handed  a  carefully-wrapped  parcel  to 
my  daughter,  and  resumed  my  seat.  My  wife 
eyed  me  narrowly,  I  thought,  even  suspiciously, 
while  Bertha  went  to  the  centre-table  to  untie 
the  knotted  cords. 

"  Here,"  I  remarked  carelessly,  ''  is  the  knife 
you  wanted;"  and  I  handed  her  one  of  those  for- 
midable jack-knives  which  are  the  delight  of 
every  boy-tinker's  heart. 

"  O,  thank  you,"  said  Bertha,  wath  careless 
sincerity  as  she  opened  the  knife  with  all  a  boy's 
handiness,  snapping  back  the  blade  with  her 
thumb,  and  thrusting  it  deftly  under  the  knotted 
cords.  There  was  a  series  of  quick,  sharp  cuts, 
a  crackling  of  torn  paper,  the  rattle  of  falling 
steel,  and  then  a  pair  of  soft  arms  were  flung 
about  my  neck  and  kisses  were  rained  upon  my 
face,  while  a  delighted  voice  exclaimed  in  shrill 
staccato,  between  the  resounding  smacks: 

"O!     You!     Dear!     Old!     Pop!" 

Now  I  am  sensitive  about  my  age.  I  am  pain- 
fully aware  that  the  unprotected  condition  of 
the  most  elevated  portion  of  my  cranium  induces 


A    SLIPPERY  SUBJECT.  35 

the  impression  in  the  mind  of  the  casual  observ- 
er that  I  am  fast  approaching  the  sere  and  yel- 
low leaf,  but  I  never  allow  even  the  most  play- 
ful allusion  to  that  unpleasant  fact.  When, 
therefore,  my  oldest  and  youngest  was  guilty  of 
this  irreverence,  I  immediately  started  to  my 
feet,  and  in  so  doing  found  myself  face  to  face 
with  the  wife  of  my  bosom,  who  held  in  each 
outstretched  hand  a  shining  nickel-plated  instru- 
ment, while  she  gazed  first  at  them  and  then 
at  me  with  a  face  pallid  with  incredulous  horror. 

"  Per — ci — val — Reynolds  !"  she  exclaimed  at 
length  in  tones  that  would  have  lifted  my  hair 
as  quickly  as  an  Apache's  knife  if  time  had  not 
been  beforehand  with  it,  ''  what — have — you — 
done  ?" 

"  Whatever  may  become  a  civil  and  mining 
engineer,  madam,"  I  answered  stoutly;  "who  dares 
do  more  is  none." 

I  was  good  at  amateur  theatricals  in  my 
younger  days,  and  I  fancy  I  threw  a  good  deal 
of  tragical  force  into  my  voice  on  that  critical 
occasion.  I  remembered  the  stage  direction  too, 
and  crossed  from  R.  to  L.  with  a  stride  that 
would  have  done  honor  to  the  leggiest  "  hero  of 
an  hour"  that  ever  donned  the  buskin.  The  ef- 
fect on  the  audience  was  nothing  less  than  "im- 


36  BLACK  ICE. 

mense."  My  daughter,  who  had  slid  from  my 
lap  to  the  floor  when  I  arose,  put  her  hands  to 
her  sides  and  gave  way  to  her  feelings  in  shrieks 
that  rang  above  the  storm, 

As  loud  as  ocean  birds, 

Or  female  ranter  moved  to  preach. 

Upon  her  mother,  this  evidently  unlooked-for 
display  of  histrionic  talent  seemed  to  have  a  no 
less  remarkable  effect.  Her  face  lost  its  pallid 
hue,  her  form  its  rigidity;  a  smile  spread  over 
her  full-orbed  visage;  tears  sprang  to  her  eyes. 
Her  limbs  bent  beneath  her,  and  a  deep-seated 
armchair  received  her  ample  form.  Then  the 
tears  flowed  over  her  matronly  cheeks,  and  ir~ 
repressible  laughter  rippled  musically  between 
her  teeth,  which,  even  under  such  trying  ex- 
posure, really  looked  quite  as  well  as  those 
which  in  my  younger  days  I  had  more  than 
once  described  as  pearls  without  suffering  con- 
scientious twinges  for  any  lack  of  scientific  ac- 
curacy. 

When  the  applause  had  som.ewhat  subsided, 
I  bowed  my  appreciative  thanks,  and  would  have 
gracefully  backed  off  the  stage  had  not  the 
glowing    grate    behind    warned    me    that    I    must 


A    SLIPPERY  SUBJECT.  87 

hold  my  ground.  I  resolved,  therefore,  to  risk 
an  encore  in  the  hope  that  some  fortunate  ac- 
cident would  give  me  an  opportunity  to  escape 
by  the  wing. 

"Oh,  Percy,  Percy,  how  could  you  do  it?"  at 
length  exclaimed  my  wife,  wiping  away  her  tears 
and  striving  to  compose  herself  after  this  out- 
burst of  admiration.  "  How— could — you — do — 
it?" 

"  Genius,  madam,"  I  replied,  bowing  humbly 
in  appreciation  of  this  compliment,  and  touch- 
ing my  brow  lightly  but  suggestively  with  the 
forefinger  of  my  left  hand — '^  Genius  is  always 
unable  to  define  its  m^ethods  !" 

This  evoked  another  round  of  applause,  dur- 
ing which  I  skillfully  made  my  exit  by  edging 
around  the  screen;  and  throwing  myself  upon 
the  lounge,  I  sought  for  that  repose  which  my 
throbbing  and  overwrought  brain  required.  I 
thought  the  struggle  was  ended,  and  that  after 
two  years  of  persistent  endeavor  I  had  finally 
conquered  for  my  daughter  the  privilege  of 
wearing  that  pair  of  harmless  nickel -plated 
beauties,  as  bright  and  cold  as  the  ice  they  were 
designed  to  cut,  but  which  would  make  the  lithe- 
limbed  darling  as  fleet  as  wing-footed  Mercury, 
when   once  trained   to  their  use.     I  had  counted, 


38  BLACK  ICE. 

however,  without  my  host,  or  rather  without  my 
hostess.  Hardly  had  I  time  to  simulate  a  snore 
when  I  heard  her  voice,  this  time  full  of  real 
tears  and  tender  reproach,  as  she  exclaimed: 

"  Oh,  Percy,  how  could  you  ?" 

There  was  no  longer  room  for  laughter  or  dis- 
sembling. I  sprang  up,  and  in  an  instant  was 
kneeling  by  her  side.  I  drew  her  head  upon  my 
shoulder,  and  her  sobs  pierced  my  heart.  Ber- 
tha snatched  away  the  skates,  and  throwing  them 
under  the  piano,  clasped  her  mother  in  her  arms 
and  exclaimed  : 

"  Oh,  mamma,  don't — please  don't.  I  will  never 
wear  them,  indeed  I  will  not — not  once  !" 

After  some  moments  my  wife  recovered  her 
composure.  Then  looking  at  me  tenderly  but 
reproachfully,  she  asked,  with  a  smile  quivering 
about  her  lips: 

"•  Why  did  3^ou  do  it,  Percy  ?'* 

And  I  answered  earnestly  and  solemnly: 

"  Because,  my  love,  I  wished  your  daughter  to 
follow  in  your  foot  steps'' 

Her  smile  grew  softer,  but  a  shudder  passed 
through  her  frame  as  she  said: 

"  You  should  not  take  advantage  of  my  weak- 
ness, Percy.     Besides,  you  know  your  promise." 

She    shook  her  head    sadly,  and    looked    at   me 


A    SLIPPERY  SUBJECT.  39 

with  yet  deeper  reproach.  The  child  gazed  from 
one  to  the  other  in  grieved  surprise. 

"  What  promise  do  you  refer  to,  my  dear  ?"  I 
asked  in  my  tenderest  tones. 

"You  know  very  well,  Percy,"  she  replied,  and 
the  tears  began  to  flow  afresh.  "  I  would  not  have 
minded  but — but  for  that.  I — I — had  thought  of 
getting  her  a  pair  for  Christmas  myself,  but  I 
did  not  dream  you  would  break  such  a  promise." 
It  was  evident  that  she  did  not  wish  her  own 
beneficence  to  be  forestalled.  As  usual,  I  had 
made  a  blunder;  but  I  knew  that  it  would  not 
do  to  admit  it.  I  must  at  least  capitulate  only 
on  honorable  terms.     So  I  stood  on  my  defense. 

"  Really,  my  dear,"  I  repeated  solemnly,  "  I  do 
not  know  of  any  promise  that  I  have  broken." 

"Oh  dear,"  sobbed  Bertha,  "I  wish  I  had 
never  seen  any  skates  !  Papa,  what  made  you 
get  them  if  you  knew  it  would  so  distress  mam- 
ma ?" 

"  I  am  sure  I  had  no  notion  it  would  have 
any  such  effect  upon  her." 

"Percival  Reynolds  !"  exclaimed  the  partner  of 
my  joys.  "  Did  you  not  promise  solemnly,  upon 
the  honor  of  a  gentleman,  that  you  would  never 
teach  or  encourage  a  child  of  mine  to  skate  ?" 

She    threw    back    her    head    defiantly,  and  eyed 


40  BLACK  ICE. 

me  with  a  look  of  angry  rebuke.  But  I  was 
equal  to  the  emergency.  Again  my  histrionic 
talent  stood  me  in  good  stead,  and  I  replied,  in 
a  voice  as  hollow  as  that  of  the  ghost  in  Hamlet: 

''  My  dear  wife,  I  do  not  remember  ever  to 
have  made  such  promise." 

*^  What  !"  she  exclaimed,  starting  away  from 
my  embracing  arm,  and  looking  angrily  down 
upon  me.  *' Do  you  mean  to  say  that  you  have 
forgotten  the  only  promise  I  ever  exacted  from 
you  ?" 

"  Not  at  all,  madam,"  I  replied  with  dignity. 
"  I  remember  every  word  of  it." 

"Will  you  be  good  enough,  then,  to  tell  me 
what  it  was,  sir  ?"  she  asked,  with  freezing  for- 
mality. 

"  Certainly,  my  dear.  I  promised  on  the  word 
and  honor  of  a  gentleman,  and  sealed  it  upon 
your  fair  lips,  that  I  would  never  teach  nor  en- 
courage any  boy  of  yours  to  skate;  but  I  submit 
to  your  good  sense,  my  dear,  that  such  promise 
could  not  include  our  tomboy  T 


CHAPTER  III. 


A    RUGGED    ESCULAPIAN. 


'T^HERE  was  an  interval  of  very  eloquent  si- 
lence after  my  last  remark.  Bertha  and  I 
were  waiting  in  unconcealed  anxiety  to  know 
whether  the  eclipse  of  the  central  luminary  of 
our  little  household  was  to  be  partial,  annular, 
or  total.  If  partial,  we  knew  from  experience 
that  it  would  last  hardly  a  moment;  but  if  an- 
nular, so  as  to  embrace  all  within  the  circum- 
ference of  the  wedding-ring,  or  total,  so  as  to 
becloud  our  entire  little  home-world,  we  had  no 
idea  what  might  not  be  the  period  of  its  dura- 
tion. In  fact,  we  had  never  seen  such  an  eclipse. 
For  me,  I  had  been  in  mortal  terror  of  such  a 
phenomenon  during  all  the  years  of  my  married 
life.  More  than  once  there  had  been  a  vague 
hint  thrown  out  by  some  of  the  most  considerate 
and  thoughtful  of  my  kin-in-law  to  the  effect  that 
my  better  half  was  descended  from  a  family  re- 
nowned   through    many    generations    for  a    pecu- 


42  BLACK  ICE. 

liarly  relentless  and  undying  steadfastness  of  pur- 
pose which  was  chiefly  manifested  in  the  indom- 
itable fervor  of  their  wrath.  I  had  been  kindly 
forewarned    by  these  considerate  afiinities  that  if 

'•  once  her  anger  was  aroused,  the  night  of  her  dis- 
pleasure would  know  no  ray  of  light  until  its 
shadow  merged  in  the  oblivion  that  broods  above 
the  tomb.  I  cannot  say  that  I  entirely  agreed 
with  these  well-meaning  monitors  in  the  appre- 
hension that  they  expressed,  or  gave  full  credence 
to  certain  hints  of  like  character  which  had  fallen 
from  the  lips  of  my  cara  sposa,  even  so  far  back  as 
our  courting  days.  I  had,  however,  unbounded 
confidence  in  my  own  ability  as  a  tease,  and  re- 
membered very  distinctly  my  grandmother's  oft- 
repeated  declaration  that  I  had  "  a  most  winning 
way  of  making  people  angry;"  so  that,  despite 
my  incredulity  as  to  her  inherent  obstinacy  and 
my  exalted  faith  in  her  forbearance,  I  had  a 
lingering  apprehension  that  the  dreaded  evil 
might  yet  befall. 

It   was,  therefore,  with    no    little    relief    that    I 

-saw  the  lowered  brows  begin  to  quiver  and  the 
sternly-shut  mouth  sending  its  corners  backward 
in  search  of  the  deepening  dimples  that  adorned 
her  cheeks.  I  knew  at  once  that  the  threatened 
storm    was    averted,    and    needed    not    the    confir- 


A   RUGGED  ESCULAPIAN.  43 

mation  of  the  silvery  laugh  which  followed,  the 
loving  touch  of  her  plump  fingers  upon  my  un- 
thatched  cranium,  or  the  tender  tones  of  her  voice 
to  inform  mc  that  I  had  been  forgiven  for  all 
past  offenses,  and  was  at  liberty  to  plan  new  trials 
for  her  unsuspecting  temper. 

"  Oh,  Percy,"  she  exclaimed,  v/ith  a  sad  sin- 
cerity that  cut  me  to  the  heart,  "  I  think  you  will 
■ — kill  me — some  time." 

Terrible  as  the  idea  may  seem,  she  had  hinted 
at  such  a  catastrophe  more  than  once  before. 
Though  the  words  were  accompanied  by  a  laugh 
which  plainly  told  that  she  would  prefer  that 
manner  of  death  to  any  other,  yet  as  I  could 
not  regard  such  an  occurrence  with  any  sort  of 
equanimity,  it  was  not  to  be  expected  that  I 
would  respond  less  anxiously  than  I  did  with  the 
tender  inquiry: 

^' Is  it  your  heart,  dear?  I  am  sure  it  was  very 
inconsiderate  of  me.  I  will  have  Dr.  Colton  over 
to  examine  it  in  the  morning." 

Now,  unfortunately,  Dr.  Colton  was  a  pet  aver- 
sion of  my  wife's — professionally,  I  mean;  per- 
sonally I  think  she  counted  the  grim  old  physician 
among  her  warmest  and  truest  friends.  She  was 
a  homeopathist,  however,  and  took  especial  pride 
in  the  saving  efficacy  of  the  remedies  which   she 


4A  BLACK  ICE. 

procured  in  bulk  and  kept  in  stock,  so  as  to 
be  ready  for  that  ever-apprehended  day,  which, 
thank  God,  had  never  yet  come,  when  "some  of 
us  might  be  really  sick" — the  "us"  being  com- 
posed of  the  trio  already  introduced,  the  house- 
hold servants  and  various  and  sundry  wayfarers 
whom  fate  or  stress  of  social  circumstance  might 
bring  beneath  our  roof. 

Sooth  to  say,  these  were  not  few;  for  though 
Cragholt  was  but  a  modest  nook,  it  was  famed 
far  and  wide  for  its  elasticity,  and  no  one  ever 
came  within  the  range  of  its  mistress's  influence 
without  feeling  that  a  measure  of  its  sweet  con- 
tent was  theirs.  Yet  I  think  that  one  of  the 
keenest  sorrows  of  the  good  lady's  life  lay  in 
the  fact  that  no  one  had  yet  fallen  ill  enough  to 
make  any  serious  drain  upon  the  close-stoppered 
minim  bottles  of  her  medicine-case,  or  demand 
the  presence  of  Dr.  Landis,  a  sleek  and  slender 
young  man, 

"Equipped  with  sugar-pills  and  thirtieth  dilution, 
The  host  of  human  ills  to  scatter  in  confusion," 

whose  card  adorned  a  door  in  the  most  fashion- 
able quarter  of  the  neighboring  metropolis,  from 
whom  she  purchased  her  medical  supplies  and 
patronizingly  referred  to  as  her  family  physician. 


A   RUGGED  ESCULAFIAiV.  45 

On  the  contrary,  Dr.  Ebenezer  Colton,  who 
was  jny  doctor  and  lived  in  the  village  almost 
under  the  eaves  of  Cragholt,  was  of  the  tough 
and  rugged  "  old  school "  who  mean  business 
when  they  start  on  the  trail  of  disease.  He 
was  getting  on  towards  seventy,  but  was  one  of 
those  men  who  would  never  be  any  older  if  he 
lived  to  be  a  hundred,  and  who  had  been  grow- 
ing younger  in  spirit  every  day  since  he  had 
crossed  life's  meridian.  He  had  lived  in  the  vil- 
lage all  his  life,  where  his  father  had  been  a 
practitioner  before  him;  and  counted  every  new- 
comer in  the  vicinity  only  another  of  a  great 
family  whose  ailments  he  might  some  day  be 
called  upon  to  soothe  or  subdue.  So  he  had 
come  to  watch  the  habits  and  characteristics  of 
them  all  in  order  that  when  the  day  came  he 
might  be  equipped  for  the  conflict.  It  needed 
but  one  glance  at  his  keen  gray  eye  that  hid 
away  under  his  bushy  brows,  and  the  myriad  of 
little  wrinkles  in  which  the  cavities  were  framed, 
to  tell  how  keen  and  shrewd  an  observer  he  was. 

He  was  a  thrifty,  well-to-do  man,  who  had, 
been  content  with  the  steady  income  of  his  pro- 
fessional labor  and  had  never  been  tempted  into 
speculation.  A  railroad  that  had  crossed  his  pat- 
rimony, and  some  manufacturing  enterprises  that 


46  BLACK  ICE. 

had  established  themselves  upon  the  river  bank, 
had  enhanced  the  value  of  his  lots,  and  he  had 
been  able  to  settle  comfortably  in  life  a  family 
too  sturdy  and  enterprising  to  remain  in  sight 
of  the  home-nest.  So  the  doctor  and  his  wife, 
with  now  and  then  a  grandchild  or  two,  con- 
stituted the  family  of  the  old  weather-beaten 
house,  which  stood  just  far  enough  up  the  hill 
to  overlook  the  village.  It  was  full  of  warmth 
and  comfort,  but  the  good  couple  would  never 
permit  its  interior  arrangements  to  be  changed, 
or  anything  more  done  to  modify  its  exterior 
than  to  give  it  at  long  intervals  a  fresh  coat  of 
paint.  Even  this  had  not  been  done  for  many 
years,  by  reason  of  which  the  owner  facetiously 
declared  that  he  found  his  mansion  at  length  to 
be  in  the  very  height  of  fashion,  needing  no  ar- 
tistic aid  to  give  it  the  guise  of  age. 

He  was  not  a  lady's  man,  nor  one  calculated 
to  find  favor  in  the  sight  of  those  who  account 
disease  a  luxury.  His  splashed  and  battered 
buggy  comported  well  with  his  somewhat  care- 
less dress,  and  a  casual  observer  would  have 
said  that  neither  the  doctor  nor  his  hired  man 
gave  much  attention  to  his  turnout.  One  who 
looked  closer  would  have  seen,  however,  that  the 
plain,    black    harness    was    always    soft   and    well 


A   RUGGED  ESCULAPIAN.  4tl 

oiled,  and  that  the  horse  he  drove  had  all  the 
points  of  a  well-bred  roadster.  Those  who  knew 
him,  too,  understood  perfectly  well  that  the 
seemingly  careless  driver  who  jogged  about  the 
town  and  over  the  neighboring  hills  so  leisurely 
during  the  summer  days,  had  a  hand  of  iron 
upon  the  rein,  and  drove  like  Jehu  through  wind 
and  storm  whenever  humanity  uttered  an  emer- 
gent call  for  aid.  There  were  many  fine  step- 
pers belonging  to  the  wealthy  men  who  had 
builded  their  summer  homes  upon  the  hillsides, 
but  not  one  among  them  ever  cared  to  try  a 
second  time  to  pass  the  old  doctor  with  his  un- 
couth rig  and  undipped  Hambletonian  on  the 
river  road. 

So,  too,  one  who  had  judged  him  intellectually 
and  professionally  by  his  externals  would  have 
made  a  sad  mistake.  The  battered  silk  hat  and 
heavy  buckskin  driving-gloves  which  he  wore 
summer  and  winter,  together  with  the  fact  that 
he  was  an  inveterate  chewer  of  tobacco,  which 
he  masticated  with  the  utmost  industry  though 
without  the  usual  salivatory  accompaniment,  did 
not  at  first  sight  produce  a  favorable  impression. 
When,  however,  he  had  removed  his  heavy  glove 
and  you  had  shaken  the  firm,  white  hand,  list- 
ened   to    the    sharp,    cleanly-enunciated    syllables 


48  BLACK  ICE. 

that  came  in  clear,  calm  tones,  watched  the  play 
of  his  thin,  mobile  lips,  and  caught  the  flash  of 
his  keen  eye,  you  became  at  once  aware  that  he 
was  a  man  of  thought  and  character.  He  was 
more  than  that,  too:  he  was  a  man  of  the  ripest 
culture.  Rusty  as  he  looked,  he  stood  in  his 
profession  abreast  with  the  newest  thought.  Not 
an  instrument,  a  process,  or  a  theory  came  to 
the  surface  in  the  healing  art  that  he  did  not 
master  its  principles  and  application,  and  decide 
for  himself  upon  its  scope  and  value.  Among 
his  brethren  of  the  vicinity  he  w^as  an  authority 
hardly  second  in  many  respects  to  the  highest 
lights  of  the  great  metropolis,  and  the  name  of 
Ebenezer  Colton  was  honorably  known,  through 
many  a  clear  and  pungent  monograph,  to  every 
well-read  physician  in  the  land. 

He  had  found  time  also  to  look  into  many  an 
unexpected  nook  of  our  literature,  and  had 
read,  with  a  care  and  appreciativeness  few  would 
have  expected  from  him,  the  standards  of  style 
and  excellence  in  more  than  one  language. 
Upon  all  subjects  of  which  he  had  thought  or 
read  he  was  sure  to  have  his  own  ideas,  which 
he  expressed  with  keen  and  idiomatic  pungency. 
His  words  were  often  as  caustic  as  his  remedies, 
and  he  hesitated    no   more    to    lacerate    the    slue- 


A   RUGGED  ESCULAPIAN,  49 

gish  brain,  or  excoriate  tlie  dormant  conscience, 
than  to  blister  the  torpid  membrane.  He  knew 
very  well  the  triple  nature  of  humanity,  and 
realized  the  mutual  interdependence  of  body, 
brain,  and  soul.  So,  too,  he  looked  at  the  pres- 
ent always  in  the  light  of  the  past,  and  never 
forgot  its  relation  to  the  future.  To  him  the 
living  man  v/as  only  a  link  between  a  genera- 
tion that  has  passed  away  and  one  which  has  not 
yet  matured.  When  he  studied  To-day  he  had 
always  in  his  memory  Yesterday,  and  in  his 
hope  To-morrow. 

As  I  said,  my  wife  has — or  professes  to  have — 
a  strong  antipathy  for  Dr.  Colton,  professionally. 
He  not  only  laughs  to  scorn — and  his  laugh  is 
sometimes  very  scornful— the  minim  doses  and 
infinitely  diluted  "potencies"  that  fill  her  pretty 
little  Russia  leather  pocket-case,  but  he  has  an 
irrepressible  contempt  of  that  tendency  to  the 
use  of  so-called  specifics  which  is  almost  sure  to 
get  a  strong  hold  upon  the  heart  of  a  devoted 
wife  and  mother.  He  is  wonderfully  inclined  to 
"throw  physic  to  the  dogs"  and  seek  his  remedy 
in  air  and  sunshine,  silence,  repose,  or  change  of 
occupation.  To  one  who  yearns  for  an  oppor- 
tunity to  do  nature's  work  for  her,  such  a  man 
is  peculiarly  aggravating.     Especially  is  this  true 


50  BLACK  ICE. 

when  he  has  a  horror  of  humbug  and  despises 
subterfuge — vvlien  he  insists  upon  recognizing 
intangible  forces  as  recuperative  agencies,  and 
scorns  the  innocuous  pellets  that  are  so  often 
given  to  console  with  the  thought  that  some- 
thing is  being  done  rather  than  with  any  pur- 
pose to  heal. 

I  could  hardly  blame  my  wife  for  her  antipathy 
to  the  restless,  keen-eyed  old  ^sculapius  who 
trampled  on  her  pet  notions  with  such  a  sublime 
disregard  of  her  most  cherished  fancies.  I  re- 
membered well  when  he  first  entered  the  house 
in  a  professional  capacity.  Long  before  that  he 
had  found  his  way  there  as  a  friend,  and  many 
a  rare  hour  had  I  enjoyed  with  him  in  the 
library  before  I  ever  thought  of  him  as  a  phy- 
sician. The  time  came,  however,  when  Nature 
demanded  at  my  hands  the  penalty  of  outraged 
law.  Years  of  unremitting  labor  had  been  capped 
with  some  months  of  peculiarly  exhausting  toil. 
Ambition  had  led  me  to  undertake  a  task  all 
too  severe  for  mind  and  body.  I  had  sought 
to  grow  rich  beyond  the  need  of  daily  exertion 
by  attempting  to  crowd  the  work  of  years  into 
months,  the  anxiety  of  a  century  into  a  decade. 
When  the  crisis  came  I  returned  home  stricken 
in  every  nerve.     The  weary  brain    throbbed  with 


A   RUGGED  ESCULAPIAN.  61 

dull  agony.  The  spectres  of  dim,  faded  hopes 
thronged  my  unresting  mind.  Every  flaccid  mus- 
cle was  animate  with  pain.  Just  at  the  base  of 
the  brain  there  rested  a  dull,  heavy  sensation 
that  bowed  my  head  forward,  while  the  aching 
spine  seemed  to  rebel  at  the  very  thought  of 
bearing  messages  demanding  action  of  the  weary, 
dragging  limbs.  I  had  crawled  home,  I  hardly 
knew  how,  arriving  at  midnight  and  climbing 
wearily  to  the  dark  and  silent  house.  Sleep  and 
love  I  thought  would  restore  me  ;  but  sleep  re- 
fused to  visit  my  eyelids,  and  my  wife's  anxious 
speculations  as  to  the  nature  of  my  ailment  and 
the  proper  remedy  to  be  applied  were  by  no 
means  soporific  in  their  tendencies. 

Despite  her  anxiety,  I  believe  those  half-dozen 
hours  between  midnight  and  sunrise  were  among 
the  happiest  of  her  life.  At  last  fate  had  favored 
her  cherished  hope.  She  had  at  length  an 
opportunity  to  show  how  thoroughly  she  had 
studied  the  art  of  expelling  disease  from  the 
household.  I  shall  never  forget  how  lovingly 
she  clasped  the  miniature  medicine-chest  with  its 
silver  clasp,  which  she  carried  back  and  forth, 
as  if  to  aid  in  her  diagnosis,  giving  me  a  dose 
of  sweet  particles  first  out  of  one  bottle  and 
then  out  of  another,  turning  the  little  white  glo- 


52  BLACK  ICE. 

bules  out  in  the  palm  of  her  hand  and  counting 
them  witli  the  utmost  care,  as  if  the  destiny  of 
all  mankind  depended  on  one  of  those  infinitesi- 
mal bits  of  crystallized  saccharine,  until  I  had 
sampled  the  whole  array  of  pellicles,  and  began 
upon  a  course  of  teaspoonful  doses  out  of  minim- 
charged  tumblers  of  aqua  pura.  She  said  about 
a  thousand  times  that  she  did  not  know  what  to 
do,  and  asked  me  as  many  more  whether  I  had 
any  notion  what  ailed  me.  She  was  at  one  time 
unable  to  decide  whether  it  was  small-pox  or 
scarlet  fever,  and  at  another  wavered  for  half 
an  hour  between  neurotic  rheumatism  and  cere- 
bro-spinal  meningitis.  She  prepared  hot  and 
cold  applications  for  my  head  and  feet  respect- 
ively; but  could  not  decide  which  should  be 
applied  to  which,  and  so,  to  make  sure  of  being 
half  right  at  least,  applied  them  alternately  first 
to  one  and  then  to  the  other.  She  prepared  a 
mustard-plaster  about  half  a  yard  square,  which 
she  was  sure  ought  to  be  applied  either  to  my 
back  or  my  breast,  but  fortunately  for  me  she 
could  never  determine  which.  So  the  dawn 
came,  and  I  had  escaped  this  torture.  Sleep  had 
obstinately  kept  aloof  from  my  couch;  the  little 
resisting  power  I  had  left  had  been  exhausted, 
and   I   was   almost   ready   to  wish   that   the   worst 


A   RUGGED   ESCULAPIAN.  53 

of  the  dear  woman's  diagnoses  miglit  prove  true, 
and  the  swiftest  form  of  fell  disease  take  me 
beyond  the  jurisdiction  of  the  imp  who  dwelt 
within  the  Russia  leather  case,  and  his  fellow 
who  danced  about  among  the  pages  of  "  The 
Family  Physician."  As  for  my  anxious  watcher, 
though  sustained  by  an  unfaltering  confidence 
tliat  if  her  remedies  did  no  good  they  could  do 
no  harm,  she  was  so  alarmed  at  the  sight  of  my 
face  by  daylight,  and  my  continued  restlessness 
and  groanings,  that  she  hurried  a  servant  off  for 
Dr.  Colton,  who  she  thought  might  be  able  to 
keep  me  alive  until  tlie  great  homeopathic  light, 
Dr.  Landis,  could  be  brought  down  from  the  city 
to  effect  my  cure. 

I  shall  never  forget  the  conversation  I  over- 
heard that  morning  between  the  old  physician 
and  my  feverish,  frightened  nurse  of  the  night. 
The  portiere  was  drawn  across  the  door  and 
the  curtain  carefully  pulled  down  to  exclude  the 
light,  in  the  hope  that  I  might  sleep.  Indeed, 
I  must  have  fallen  into  a  doze  from  which  I  was 
waked  by  the  cool  even  tones  of  the  physician 
coming  from  the  little  sitting-room  without. 

"Ah,  good-morning,  Mrs.  Reynolds,"  I  heard 
him   say.     "  Is  your  husband  ill  ?" 

"Well,    yes,    doctor,"    with    doubtful   hesitancy. 


54  BLACK  ICE. 

*'  You  see,  Dr.  Landis  is  our  family  physician,  but 
Percy  is  so  bad — " 

"  Exactly — exactly,"  said  the  old  man  with  a 
little  tartness  in  his  tone,  caused,  I  have  no 
doubt,  by  the  mention  of  Dr.  Landis's  name; 
"been  expecting  it  for  some  time." 

"  Expecting  what  ?"  asked  the  wife  in  surprise. 

"  Your  husband's  sickness,  ma'am.  When  did 
he  reach  home  ?" 

"  About  midnight." 

"  Thoroughly  done  out,  I  suppose  ?" 

"O,  not  at  all,  doctor;  not  at  all.  You  don't 
understand  his  symptoms.  He  seems  very  strong 
and  active;  cannot  sleep  at  all,  and  is  evidently 
suffering  from  some  acute  and,  I  fear,  contagious 
malady." 

Then  followed  a  recital  of  all  that  the  dear 
woman  had  observed  and  concluded,  done  and 
thought  of  doing,  during  the  night,  ending  with 
the  consolatory  statement  that  the  remedies  she 
had  prescribed  being  homeopathic  could  do  no 
harm. 

"  Exactly,"  responded  the  doctor  in  clear  and 
sharp  tones;  "that  is  the  prime  merit  of  the 
homeopathic  system. 

"  Your  friends  will  have  this  solace,  when  in  the  grave  you  lie: 
The  doctor  didn't  kill  you — /id  juerely  L-t  you  die  T' 


A   RUGGED  ESCULAPIAiY.  65 

I  think  his  joke  was  the  first  thing  that  did  me 
any  good.  I  actuall}^  chuckled  when  I  heard  it; 
though  I  have  not  dared  to  let  my  wife  know 
that  I  was  eavesdropping,  to  this  day. 

Well,  I  did  not  mean  to  tell  the  story  of  my 
little  siege  of  sickness.  It  is  hardly  worth  men- 
tioning, though  it  was  a  good  many  months  be- 
fore I  v/as  able  to  attend  to  my  affairs  again,  and 
by  that  time  they  needed  very  little  attention  from 
any  one.  The  doctor  came  in  firmly  and  natural- 
ly; threw  up  the  curtain;  opened  the  shutter; 
looked  at  me  keenly,  as  he  held  my  hand  for  a 
moment,  and  then  said,  with  a  severe  look  upon 
his  face: 

"  Humph  !  Just  as  I  expected— just  as  I  ex- 
pected. Trying  to  discount  your  life  and  outwit 
the  Lord.  Found  you  couldn't  do  it,  too.  Glad  of 
it — glad  of  it.     Teach  you  a  little  sense,  perhaps." 

Then  came  a  series  of  short,  sharp  questions 
eliciting  full  information  as  to  my  life  and  occu- 
pations for  a  year  before,  and  a  few  brief  but 
pertinent  inquiries  as  to  my  physical  symptoms 
during  the  past  few  days,  and  my  present  sensa- 
tions. To  all  these  my  wife  listened  with  equa- 
nimity, but  her  surprise  was  hardly  less  than 
anger  when  the  doctor  said: 

"  I  don't  know  anything  that  v/ill  do  you  quite 


66  BLACK  ICE. 

as  much  good  as  a  sound  pommeling.  You  ought 
to  have  had  one  that  would  have  laid  you  up 
before  you  reached  the  end  of  your  tether,  but 
I  believe  I  will  just  give  you  a  moderate  one 
now.  If  it  does  not  have  the  desired  effect,  I  can 
bring  a  mortar  and  bray  you  thoroughly  next 
time." 

He  took  off  his  coat  as  he  spoke,  turned  up 
his  v/ristbands,  and,  removing  the  clothing,  pro- 
ceeded to  belabor  me  with  the  palms  of  his  hands 
up  and  down  the  spinal  column,  not  lightly  and 
pettingly  as  in  what  is  known  as  tlie  "  massage 
treatment,"  but  sturdily  and  lustily,  with  blows 
that  resounded  through  the  house  and  shook  my 
whole  frame  with  their  severity.  The  skin  burned 
and  my  flesh  tingled  under  the  heavy  strokes; 
and  as  he  went  up  on  one  side  of  the  spinal 
column  and  down  the  other,  it  seemed  as  if  each 
blow  would  dislocate  a  rib.  Yet  what  a  com- 
fort there  was  in  it  !  The  pain  at  the  base  of 
the  cerebellum  was  forgotten;  the  weariness  and 
weakness  left  the  spine;  the  dull  limbs  rested 
quietly;  the  shadows  departed  from  my  brain: 
and  when  the  doctor  had  thrown  up  the  window, 
— though  it  was  wintry  cold  without, — compelled 
me  to  take  twenty  of  the  deepest  possible  res- 
pirations,  timing  each   by  his  watch,  given  me  a 


A   RUGGED  ESCULAPIAN.  57 

powder  and  a  glass  of  water,  and  thrown  the 
bed-clothes  over  my  shoulders,  I  was  asleep.  I 
learned  afterwards  that  when  my  wife  asked,  as 
he  was  leaving  the  house,  what  medicine  he  would 
prescribe  pending  Dr.  Landis's  arrival,  he  had 
turned  upon  her  sharply  and  said:  "Madam,  if 
you  wish  your  husband  to  live,  you  will  keep  the 
door  of  his  room  shut,  never  opening  it  except 
to  give  him  food,  should  he  desire  it  on  awaking, 
until  my  return.  Do  not  let  any  noise  come  to 
his  ear;  and  if  the  quack  you  have  named  should 
show  his  face  upon  the  hill,  set  the  dog  on  him. 
Your  husband  needs  but  three  things — silence, 
sustenance,  and  sense,  but  he  needs  them  very 
badly.  If  you  will  look  after  the  first  two,  I  will 
supply  the  third." 

It  was  harsh  language  to  address  to  a  tired 
and  anxious  woman;  but  the  doctor  was  in  dead 
earnest,  and  had  no  idea  that  his  earnestness 
might  make  him  an  enemy — or  rather,  I  am  afraid, 
cared  but  little  whether  it  did  or  not. 
"  What  shall  I  give  him  when  he  wakes  ?" 
"  O,  anything  he  wants  except  delicacies — say 
a  boiled  ^%^  and  a  piece  of  toast,  a  dozen  raw 
oysters,  a  pound  of  porter-house  steak,  a  couple 
of  baked  potatoes,  and  a  glass  of  milk,  letting 
him  finish  up  with  any  little  thing  he  has  a  liking 


58  BLACK  ICE. 

for.  But  don't  disturb  him  if  he  sleeps  all  day. 
1  will  be  up  about  five  o'clock.  If  he  doesn't 
wake  before  that  time  you  may  just  duplicate 
the  order  I  have  given,  and  I'll  breakfast  with 
him  and  give  him  a  dose  of  sense  at  the  same 
time.  It  will  take  a  great  deal  of  steak  and 
sense  to  cure  that  man,  Mrs.  Reynolds;  remem- 
ber that."  He  shook  his  lean  white  finger  at 
her,  flashed  his  keen  eyes  from  under  his  bushy 
brows,  and  strode  off  muttering  angrily  to  himself. 
His  grave  manner  impressed  her  even  more 
than  his  words,  I  suppose.  At  any  rate,  she 
obeyed  his  instructions  implicitly,  and  did  not 
send  for  her  fine  city  physician.  I  did  not  wake 
until  the  lamps  were  lighted  at  evening,  and 
found  the  old  doctor  there  ready  to  ^'breakfast" 
with  me  as  he  had  agreed.  For  weeks  there  was 
hardly  a  day  that  he  did  not  take  at  least  one 
meal  in  my  company.  Since  that  time  there  has 
always  been  a  wordy  warfare  between  him  and 
my  wife,  who  declares  that  she  would  rather  die 
a  natural  death  than  meet  her  fate  under  his 
care.  It  had  been  my  notion,  however,  that  this 
contention  only  covered  a  profound  respect  on 
the  part  of  each  for  the  other,  as  she  had  more 
than  once  been  heard  to  commend  to  her  friends 
the    sagacity    and    thoroughness    of    Dr.    Colton, 


A   RUGGED  ESCULAPIAN.  59 

and  he  has  incidentally  remarked  to  me  that 
there  are  very  few  women  who  have  sense  enough 
to  obey  a  physician's  instructions  when  they  in- 
clude simply  steak  and  silence.  "  Indeed,"  he 
sometimes  adds,  "  very  few  are  able  to  understand 
the  meaning  of  either  of  those  purely  medical 
terms." 

At  my  proposition  to  have  in  Dr.  Colton,  there- 
fore, Mrs.  Reynolds  resumed  her  air  of  freezing 
dignity  and  replied: 

"  I  think  it  quite  enough,  Percy,  that  I  have 
asked  the  doctor  and  his  wife  to  eat  their  Thanks- 
giving dinner  with  us." 

"Ah,  indeed,"  I  replied;  "that  relieves  me 
greatly,  as  it  shows  that  your  heart  is  all  right, 
after  all." 

"  Oh  !  oh  !  oh  !" 

One  should  have  heard  those  monosyllables 
bursting  in  reproachful  staccato  from  the  lips 
of  mother  and  daughter  now  joined  in  an  alli- 
ance, offensive  and  defensive,  against  the  so-called 
head  of  the  house,  to  understand  the  scorn  they 
conveyed.  This  was  the  invariable  greeting  which 
any  approach  to  a  pun  on  my  part  was  sure  to 
receive  from  them.  Under  tliis  combined  attack 
I  retired  again  to  my  lounge,  and  Bertha,  having 
restored  the   entente   cordiale  with   her  mother,  be- 


60  BLACK  ICE. 

gan  to  make  some  further  inquiry  in  regard  to 
Thanksgiving. 

"  Who  else  are  we  to  have  with  us,  then,  mam- 
ma?" 

"  I  have  invited  his  grandson,  of  course — Edgar 
Colton." 

"  He  is  nice,"  commented  Bertha. 

"  And  Professor  Hartzel." 

"  O,  he  is  splendid  !"  ejaculated  my  daughter. 

Hartzel  was  a  bachelor  for  whose  state  of  single 
blessedness  no  one  could  reasonably  account.  He 
was  so  fine  a  fellow  that  every  man  was  glad  to 
count  him  a  friend,  and  so  witty,  gay,  and  yet 
tender  withal,  that  many  a  woman  would  have 
liked  him  for  a  lover.  Why  so  good  a  friend 
should  never  be  a  lover  none  could  guess. 

"And  Mrs.  Somers,  the  teacher  of  the  village 
school,  whom  your  papa  admires  so  much,"  con- 
tinued my  wife,  with  just  the  faintest  trace  of 
meaning  in  the  closing  phrase. 

"  She  is  real  sweet,"  said  Bertha,  heartily. 

"Aha!"  I  said  to  myself.  "The  wife  is  going 
to  try  her  hand  at  match-making.  George  Hartzel 
and  Helen  Somers,  eh  ?  Not  a  bad  pair  to  begin 
with,  anyhow,  to  say  nothing  of  my  own  admi- 
ration for  the  latter,  of  which  she  seems  hardly 
to  approve.     A  very  well-laid  scheme,  my  dear." 


A    RUGGED  ESCULAPIAN.  61 

Mrs.  Reynolds  paused  a  moment,  evidently  ex- 
pecting me  to  make  some  remark.  I  remained 
silent,  however,  and  she  continued,  in  reply  to 
her  daughter's  question: 

''  I  have  also  asked  your  cousins,  Maud  and 
Allie,  to  come  and  spend  the  winter  with  us,  or 
at  least  to  remain  until  after  the  holidays." 

"And  will  they  come?"  asked  Bertha,  eagerly. 

"  They  will  arrive  to-morrow,  my  dear." 

"  O,  you  darling  mamma !"  exclaimed  Bertha 
as  she  raised  her  head  from  the  maternal  bosom 
and  kissed  her  mother's  cheek. 

"  That  was  like  you,  Hester,"  I  said,  coming 
forward  and  laying  my  hand  caressingly  upon  the 
soft  gray  hair,  which  curled  above  her  fair  smooth 
brow.  Perhaps  I  kissed  it,  too,  for  it  was  worthy 
of  such  reverent  salutation. 

"Thank  you,  Percy,"  she  said. 

Maud  and  Allie  were  Bertha's  cousins  only  in 
the  second  degree,  but  they  were  the  orphan 
daughters  of  a  favorite  cousin  of  mine,  and  I 
knew  that  my  wife's  invitation  was  due  to  a 
thoughtful  remembrance  of  the  widow's  needs. 
If  they  staid  for  the  winter,  it  would  give  us  a 
chance  to  bestow  many  unnoted  favors  on  the 
bright  Western  girls,  and  also  allow  their  mother 
to   take  a  few   months   of    much-needed    respite. 


62  BLACK  ICE. 

I  felt  very  proud  of  the  mistress  of  Cragholt,  at 
that  moment. 

''  Is  that  all  ?"  asked   Bertha,  presently. 

"That  is  seven,"  answered  her  mother,  thought- 
fully; "and  with  us  will  make  ten  at  table.  Con- 
sidering everything,  I  don't  know  as  I  ought  to 
ask  any  more,  though  we  have  always  had  twelve 
at  our  Thanksgiving  dinner.  What  do  you  think, 
Percy  ?" 

I  knew  she  was  thinking  of  the  orphans,  and 
wondering  if  we  ought  not  to  limit  our  hospi- 
tality for  their  good.  We  were  not  rich  by  any 
means,  and  she  was  accustomed  to  mingling  econ- 
omy with  kindness.  Yet  I  had  one  friend  whom 
I  had  arranged  in  my  own  mind  to  invite  to  the 
annual  home-feast.     So  I  said: 

"  There  is  Twining,  my  dear.  He  was  with  us 
at  our  first  Thanksgiving,  and  now, — he  is  alone, 
you  know." 

"  And  his  little  boy,  too,"  interposed  Bertha. 

"Yes,"  said  the  mistress,  tenderly,  "he  must  be 
very  lonely  since  Mary's  death.  Well,  that  makes 
the  twelve,  and  a  very  well-assorted  company  it  is. 
I  can  see  just  how  I  will  have  them  sit  at  the 
table.  And  now,  Percy,  I  want  to  say  a  word 
about  what  amusement  we  shall  have  after  the 
dinner." 


A   RUGGED  ESCULAPIAN.  63 

"Anything  you  please,  my  dear.  We  shall  then 
be  able  to  declare,  '  Fate  cannot  harm  me;  I  have 
dined  to-day.'  " 

"  That  is  all  very  well,  Percy;  but  now  that 
Bertha  has  grown  old  enough  to  take  a  part  in 
such  things — " 

"  Or  the  whole,  for  that  matter,  my  dear,"  I 
interjected. 

The  elder  lady  paid  no  attention  to  this  weak 
attempt  at  wit,  and  the  younger  merely  made  a 
threatening  gesture  in  my  direction. 

"I  say,"  continued  my  wife,  "that,  as  the  mis- 
tress of  ceremonies  on  that  day,  I  have  decided 
to  restore  the  old  rule,  and  require  of  every  one 
a  song,  a  story,  or  at  least  a  verse." 

"  Good,  good !"  shouted  Bertha,  in  an  ecstasy 
of  anticipation.  "That  will  be  splendid.  And, 
papa,"  she  continued,  coming  over  and  leaning 
her  head  caressingly  upon  my  shoulder,  "you 
will  tell  us  then  why  mamma  objects  to  skates, 
won't  you  ?" 

"Bertha,"  said  her  mother,  severely,  "I  posi- 
tively forbid  your  saying  another  word  upon  that 
subject." 

As  for  me,  I  made  no  answer  to  my  daughter's 
request  beyond  a  shrug  of  the  shoulders,  and 
perhaps  the  slightest  suspicion  of  a  wink. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


SOME    FOOLISH    NOTIONS. 


'T^HERE  was  still  a  week  before  Thanksgiving 
Day.  The  cold  was  unusually  severe  for  the 
season.  The  sleighing  was  good,  and  ice  had 
already  formed  upon  the  river.  The  country 
people  had  begun  to  revive  their  recollections  of 
the  years  that  had  elapsed  since  the  babyhood 
of  each  for  like  cold  seasons  and  remarkable 
Novembers.  Of  course  this  was  pronounced  a 
little  the  worst  they  had  ever  known,  thougli 
some  whose  memories  went  back  to  that  notable 
year  ''when  the  stars  fell"  recalled  the  fact  of 
snow  in  July,  of  frost  every  month  of  the  year, 
and  that  the  brooks  were  frozen  to  the  very 
bottoms  before  December  set  in. 

Bertha  was  all  aglow  with  the  prospect  of  hav- 
ing her  cousins'  society  for  the  winter,  and  of  a 
pleasant  company  at  our  little  hillside  home, 
which,  if  it  was  never  quite  empty  of  friends, 
was  yet  rarely  the  scene  of  any  formal  festivity. 
Even   the   thought  of  such  a  modest  company  as 


SOME  FOOLISH  NOTIONS.  65 

her  mother  had  proposed  made  her  pulses  throb 
and  her  eyes  sparkle.  With  womanly  prescience 
and  childlike  glee  combined,  she  began  at  once 
to  plan  for  the  entertainment,  seeking  with 
thoughtful  courtesy  to  devise  something  that  she 
might  do  to  enhance  the  pleasure  of  each  of  our 
expected  guests.  Naturally  the  first  thing  to  be 
considered  was  the  sending  of  the  invitations. 
Some  had  already  been  given  and  accepted  ; 
others  had  not  yet  been  prepared.  Bertha, 
who  is  deft  with  her  fingers,  and  has  an  artist's 
love  of  nature's  forms,  caught  at  this  opportunity, 
and  at  the  breakfast-table  the  next  morning  ex- 
hibited the  design  of  a  card  which  she  proposed 
to  illuminate  with  her  own  hands,  and  send  to 
each  of  our  friends  as  a  memento  of  the  day. 
With  some  amendment  it  was  approved,  and  be- 
fore night  one  was  on  its  way  to  John  Twining 
at  his  lonely  rooms  in  the  city,  and  another  had 
been  left  at  Dr.  Colton's.  The  design  was  simple, 
— just  an  oval  space  in  the  middle,  with  the  hint 
of  a  waiting  table,  in  and  out  among  the  cov- 
ers being  traced  the  words  of  invitation.  On 
the  left,  a  snow-laden  hemlock  drooped  over  a 
mountain  torrent  clogged  with  ice  ;  on  the  right 
appeared  the  head  of  a  Puritan  with  hands  and 
eyes  upraised.  Above  the  oval  were  the  day 
5 


Q6  BLACK  ICE. 

and  year;  below  the  waterfall,  on  the  left,  the 
names  of  the  expected  guests.  The  legend  which 
the  table  bore  in  quaintly-formed  characters  was 
as  follows: 

2ro  U)i)om  tjcse  presents  ma»  come,  s«  mistress  of 
€:raQf)Olt  senlretf)  Qreeting,  anti  iji&tJetf)  to  \yzx  STfjanfes* 
fiibinfi  feast,  if  so  fie  tj[)e»  finir  it  to  consist  toitij  iiut» 
antr  inclination  to  fabor  l)er  Uesire. 

Across  the  scroll  formed  by  the  cloth  falling 
over  the  end  of  the  table  her  mother  traced  in 
firm  and  even  characters  the  name  Hester  Page 
Reynolds.  In  the  lower  right-hand  corner  was 
inscribed: 

Y«  rule  of  »«  feast :  SEberw  finest  sl)aU  sometfjinfl  tro 
for  entertainment  of  ^^  otijers. 

Maud  and  Allie  Brownlee,  the  half-orphaned 
cousins,  arrived  the  next  day  as  was  expected. 
Their  mother  had  been  my  favorite  cousin  in 
our  childhood — a  double  cousin,  in  fact,  since  her 
father  and  mother  were  the  brotlier  and  sister 
of  mine.  But  for  this  fact  I  think  we  should 
have  been  accounted  lovers,  so  inseparable  were 
we  in  our  younger  days.  Just  before  the  war  of 
Rebellion  she  married  Arthur  Brownlee,  a  brave- 
hearted,  self-reliant  companion  of  our  childhood, 
and  they  had  moved  away  past  the  verge  of  civil- 
ization almost,  out  upon  what  were  then  accounted 


SOME   FOOLISH  NOTIONS.  67 

the  aesert  plains  of  Kansas.  Arthur,  as  sagacious 
as  he  was  stout-hearted,  in  studying  the  westward 
course  of  empire  had  decided  that  one  of  the 
great  ganglia  of  American  life  would  be  located 
not  far  from  the  spot  he  had  pitched  upon  for 
his  home.  So  he  not  only  invested  all  his  little 
means  in  lands,  but  contracted  for  more  upon 
the  seemingly  easy  and  fascinating  terms  which 
the  speculators  of  the  West  have  devised,  of  nu- 
merous small  and  long-deferred  payments  with 
enormous  interest.  Fortunately,  the  first  seasons 
were  favorable,  and  before  the  war  began  he  was 
already  in  advance  of  the  payments  required. 
It  was  well,  indeed,  that  he  was,  for  the  first 
rumor  of  conflict  brought  an  incurable  disquiet 
to  the  heart  of  Arthur  Brownlee.  He  was  a  born 
soldier,  bold  and  resolute,  with  a  body  of  iron 
and  a  hand  that  seemed  made  for  the  saber-hilt. 
Day  after  day,  month  after  month,  he  resisted 
the  impulse,  knowing  full  well  the  peril  to  wife 
and  babes  that  disaster  to  himself  would  bring. 
Month  after  month  the  gentle  Annie  saw  the 
look  of  care  grow  deeper  and  darker  in  his  eyes; 
watched  his  brooding,  distraught  manner;  and 
finally,  when  the  news  of  a  great  disaster  swept 
over  the  land,  seeing  that  it  was  useless  longer 
to    attempt    to    dissuade,    she    made   a    virtue    of 


68  BLACK  ICE. 

necessity,  choked  down  her  grief  and  fear,  and 
putting  the  little  child  out  of  her  arms,  went 
and  twined  them  about  his  neck,  saying,  with- 
out a  tear  or  a  hint  of  tremor  in  her  voice,  "  Go, 
my  husband." 

Looking  into  her  eyes,  he  caught  the  spirit  of 
self-sacrifice  and  unshrinking  heroism  which  light- 
ed them;  and  while  his  own  flashed  back  the  fire 
of  martial  ardor  that  thrilled  his  veins,  he  strained 
her  to  his  breast,  and  answered  simply,  "  Thanks." 
He  had  waited,  uttering  no  word;  she  had  grant- 
ed his  desire  unasked.  Domestic  duty  had  con- 
strained his  patriotic  impulse ;  wifely  love  had 
strengthened  her  patriotic  ardor.  He  could  not 
bear  to  think  of  leaving  her  to  carry  on  alone 
the  struggle  of  life.  She  could  not  endure  to 
see  her  husband  panting  for  the  conflict,  yet 
bound  to  his  home  by  a  sense  of  love  and  duty. 
It  seemed  to  her  a  degradation,  like  the  harness- 
ing of  a  war-horse  to  the  plow.  She  would  not 
see  her  husband  debased  even  in  his  own  thought. 
Come  what  might,  she  would  not  have  him  live 
to  look  back  with  regret  upon  that  hour.  Better 
a  thousandfold  that  he  should  die  fighting  bravely 
for  the  flag  he  loved  than  live  to  feel  that  the 
land  it  covered  with  its  shadow  suffered  scath 
through  his  neglect.     So  Arthur,  at  the   head   of 


SOME  FOOLISH  NOTIONS.  69 

a  company  of  his  neighbors,  went  to  the  war; 
and  Annie,  calling  to  her  side  her  younger  brother, 
undertook  the  management  of  the  frontier  home. 

He  did  his  duty.  I  need  not  say  more;  the 
official  record  tells  the  rest,  though  indeed  it 
matters  little  now  whether  he  did  his  duty  or  not. 
Little  did  he  think,  when  he  won  his  colonel's 
stars  in  that  desperate  charge  at  Chickamauga, 
that  before  his  youngest  reached  the  years  of 
womanhood  it  would  be  accounted  more  honor- 
able to  have  served  in  the  ranks  of  the  nation's 
foes  than  to  have  fought  for  her  preservation.  I 
had  not  seen  him  since  their  removal  to  the 
great  West.  It  is  hardly  surprising,  therefore, 
when  one  night,  while  our  army  was  on  its  ''INIarch 
to  the  Sea,"  a  gaunt  and  haggard  figure,  clad  in 
noisome  rags,  came  to  our  quarters,  and  in  a 
weak  and  trembling  voice  asked  for  me,  that  I 
did  not  recognize  in  him  the  husband  of  my 
favorite  cousin. 

Why  should  I  tell  the  story?  It  is  of  Thanks- 
giving that  I  write,  and  all  these  things  are 
long  since  forgotten.  It  might  harrow  up  old 
prejudices  if  I  should  call  its  details  to  mind, 
and  all  our  duty  now  is  to  forgive  and  forget — 
to  forgive  all  evil-doers  of  that  day  and  time,  and 
to   forget   that  there  were    any  who  had  no   need 


70  BLACK  ICE. 

of  forgiveness.  We  have  revised  the  judgments 
of  that  day,  and  in  the  light  of  riper  wisdom  liave 
learned  that  neither  side  was  exactly  right,  and 
the  one  which  we  then  thought  radically  wrong 
liardly  at  all  in  fault.  Perhaps  we  are  scarcely 
ready  to  impute  all  the  blame  to  those  who  were 
unfortunate  enough  to  be  upon  the  winning  side; 
but  we  are  quite  ready  to  anathematize  every  one 
who  attributes  any  portion  of  it  to  our  foes.  We 
have  learned  that  both  sides  were  patriotic — es- 
pecially the  other  side;  and  having  long  since 
forgiven  our  enemies,  we  are  now  striving  ear- 
nestly to  forgive  ourselves.  Let  me  not  cloud  the 
dawn  of  tiie  millennial  day  with  memories  of 
war.     A  sentence  shall  suffice. 

A  year  of  Andersonville  had  burned  out  the 
vitality  even  of  Arthur  Brownlee.  We  cared  for 
him  as  tenderly  as  we  might  during  the  rest  of 
the  march.  Every  soldier  of  the  command 
counted  him  a  brother.  After  we  had  swept  over 
the  forts  at  Savannah,  we  sent  him  North  upon 
one  of  the  government  transports — the  easiest 
and  most  luxurious  passage  we  could  give  him 
then.  His  brave  wife  met  him  in  New  York  and 
took  him  back  to  the  prairie  home,  already  the 
centre  of  a  prosperous  community,  with  the 
whistle  of    the    locomotive  waking    the    echoes  of 


SOME  FOOLISH  NOTIONS.  71 

the  silent  plains.  His  neighbors  honored  him. 
For  a  time  there  was  hope;  then  the  shattered 
life  ebbed  slowly  away,  and  in  a  few  short 
years  the  wife  was  left  to  wage  alone  the  con- 
flict which  he  had  dreaded  for  her  sake. 

It  is  true  that  her  husband's  sagacity  had  light- 
ened the  load  that  rested  on  the  young  widow, 
but  it  was  still  a  heavy  one.  She  bore  it  bravely; 
reared  and  educated  her  two  daughters,  met  the 
obligations  which  her  husband  had  assumed,  and 
now,  that  the  struggle  was  over,  for  the  first  time 
showed  how  weary  and  difficult  it  had  been. 

In  all  the  long  years  of  this  struggle,  she 
had  had  no  rest,  no  luxury.  Everything  had 
been  sacrificed  to  secure  for  her  children  as  far 
as  possible  the  advantage  of  their  father's  fore- 
sight. Not  an  acre  had  been  sold  that  could  by 
any  possibility  be  redeemed.  Unmurmuringly, 
she  endured  every  deprivation  in  order  to  meet 
the  usurious  contracts  which  would  have  been  as 
nothing  had  he  lived  to  devise  ways  and  means 
and  take  advantage  of  that  flood-tide  of  prosper- 
ity which  began  at  length  to  pour  in  upon  them. 
It  was  over;  the  day  of  sharp  sacrifice  was  ended. 
The  future  was  safe  for  her  children  at  least,  if 
it  held  nothing  for  herself.  So  Maud  and  Allie 
came  to  us,  while  she  went  to  that  newer,  softer 


72  BLACK  ICE. 

West  which  wooes  the  invalid  back  to  health 
with  the  warm,  sweet  breath  of  perennial  spring. 

This  life  of  toil  and  sacrifice  had  left  its  im- 
press upon  the  two  fair  girls  that  came  that  day 
to  Cragholt.  Allie,  the  elder,  had  been  with  us 
for  a  month  or  two,  some  years  before.  She  was 
the  very  image  of  what  I  remembered  her  mother 
to  have  been — with  frank,  gray  eyes  and  light, 
wavy  hair  that  lightened  almost  to  gold  when  the 
sunshine  kissed  it  fairly — a  brave,  saucy  creature, 
with  a  sort  of  intellectual  audacity  that  made  her 
delight  in  speaking  her  own  thoughts  with  a 
seeming  disregard  for  consequences,  which  had 
induced  her  mother  long  before  to  characterize 
her  "  a  genuine  Reynolds."  Maud,  the  younger, 
then  only  sixteen,  had  her  father's  dark  eyes  and 
his  grave,  gentle  ways,  and  was  inclined  to  mel- 
ancholy, perhaps  because  of  the  shadow  that  had 
rested  over  her  young  life.  She  contrasted  with 
her  sister  not  less  in  temper  than  in  appearance. 
Although  the  younger  by  two  years,  she  was 
more  sedate  and  womanly  than  her  slighter  and 
brighter  sister. 

It  was  with  a  sigh  of  satisfaction  that  my  wife 
greeted  these  two  girls  upon  the  platform  of  the 
station  that  afternoon.  Her  one  daughter  had 
ceased  to  afford  sufficient  scope  for  her  maternal 


SOME  FOOLISH  NOTIONS.  73 

solicitude,  and  she  had  long  since  given  up  the 
task  of  taking  proper  care  of  a  husband  who  was 
quite  as  likely  to  be  found  on  the  crest  of  "  the 
Rockies  "  as  in  the  bosom  of  his  family.  It  was 
absolutely  necessary  for  her  peace  of  mind  that 
somebody  should  be  introduced  into  the  house- 
hold in  whom  she  might  not  only  take  an  in- 
terest, but  over  whose  well-being  she  might  watch 
with  untiring  vigilance.  The  "Kansas  cousins," 
as  we  were  accustomed  to  call  them,  exactly  met 
this  requirement.  She  had  the  ordinary  Eastern 
notion  that  Westernism  is,  in  a  sense,  synonymous 
with  barbarism.  She  religiously  believed  that 
these  two  unfortunates  were  in  serious  need  of 
the  civilizing  influences  of  Eastern  society — 
that  it  was  high  time  they  were  taken  in  off  the 
prairies  and  taught  the  various  paces  and  graces 
which,  according  to  her  notion,  only  Eastern  re- 
finement could  bestow.  To  her  mind  they  were 
greatly  to  be  pitied,  not  merely  on  account  of 
the  hardship  which  had  surrounded  their  life, 
not  so  much  for  the  struggle  and  self-sacrifice 
to  which  they  had  been  accustomed,  but  because 
of  the  supposed  lack  of  an  elegance  and  culture 
which  a  moment's  thought  should  have  taught 
her  that  no  hardship  could  ever  crush  out  of  such 
natures    as    their   mother   and    father    possessed. 


74  BLACK  ICE. 

She  little  knew  that  a  knowledge  of  the  free,  un- 
trammeled  life  these  very  girls  had  led  in  their 
humble  Western  home  had  constituted  the  im- 
pulse which  had  induced  me  to  encourage  our 
daughter  in  those  hoydenish  sports  which  had 
made  her  at  once  the  village  tomboy  and  the 
village  favorite.  Before  the  lamps  were  lighted 
that  night,  the  mistress  of  Cragholt  learned  that 
her  self-imposed  task  was  not  to  be  a  light  one. 
The  three  young  girls  affiliated  so  heartily  that 
the  whole  house  was  at  once  instinct  with  their 
presence — a  presence  which,  instead  of  being  de- 
pendent upon  our  fostering  care,  seemed  to  sur- 
round our  lives  with  an  atmosphere  of  innocent 
mirth  and,  instead  of  seeking  direction,  almost 
unconsciously  shaped  our  wishes  to  their  wills. 
It  was  the  first  courteous  notice  of  dispossession 
which  the  future  serves  upon  the  present — To- 
morrow on  To-day. 

Next  day  at  luncheon  came  the  doctor  to  an- 
swer in  person  the  invitation  he  had  received. 
He  had  just  heard  of  my  arrival  home,  and 
knowing  that  I  had  been  in  the  Western  city 
where  one  of  his  sons  had  settled,  rightly  judged 
that  I  brought  intelligence  of  his  welfare. 

"Yes,"  he  said  in  response  to  Bertha's  impor- 
tunate  inquiry,  '*  we  are  coming,  all   hands    of  us. 


SOME   FOOLISH  NOTIONS.  75 

For  the  first  time  in  the  forty  odd  years  of  our 
married  life,  the  good  wife  has  agreed  to  shut  up 
the  house  on  Thanksgiving  Day  and  imperil  her 
digestion  by  eating  a  dinner  that  has  not  been 
cooked   under  her  supervision." 

*'0,  she  can  still  give  directions.  Everything 
shall  be  as  she  wishes,"  my  wife  hastened  to 
say. 

"By  no  means,"  said  the  doctor,  remonstrantly. 
''  It  is  my  opinion,  individual  and  professional,  that, 
for  once  in  her  life,  she  ought  taste  a  Thanksgiving 
dinner  of  the  character  and  components  of  which 
she  has  not  the  least  hint  or  prevision.  I  insist 
upon  that;  and  I  assure  you,  Mrs.  Reynolds,  if  I 
learn  that  the  least  intimation  with  regard  to 
the  bill  of  fare  or  the  after-entertainment  is  in 
any  manner  conveyed  to  her  even  an  hour  before 
the  feast,  I  shall  pack  her  straight  off  to  the 
city  and  we  will  take  our  Thanksgiving  dinner 
at  a  hotel." 

"But  you  have  not  told  us  about  Edgar,"  said 
Bertha.  "Is  he  coming,  or  is  he  already  pledged 
elsewhere  ?" 

"O,  I  suppose  he'll  have  to  come,"  said  the 
doctor,  shaking  his  head  resignedly.  "We  could 
not  very  well  leave  him  at  home,  you  know,  and 
he   is   such   a   sorry  dog   that  I  hardly  believe   he 


76  BLACK  ICE. 

is  acquainted  witli  another  household  in  the  vil- 
lage. You  don't  know  the  lad  ?"  he  asked,  turn- 
ing to  me.  "  He  is  my  son  James's  oldest  boy, 
who  has  come  to  stay  with  me  for  the  year 
elapsing  between  the  close  of  his  preparation 
and  entrance  to  the  university,  to  see  if  I  can 
make  a  man  of  him.  You  know,  it  is  a  fancy 
of  mine  that  this  modern  life,  which  keeps 
pushing  a  boy  on  from  the  day  he  leaves  the 
cradle  until  he  finally  tumbles  into  the  grave,  is 
a  very  Moloch,  to  which  we  are  sacrificing  the 
strength  and  manhood  of  future  generations. 
Even  when  my  boys  were  growing  up  I  saw  it 
coming,  though  it  was  nothing  to  what  it  is  now. 
Still  I  held  them  back  ;  encouraged  them  to  live 
out  of  doors,  and  to  fish  and  hunt,  and  set  their 
feet  flat  down  on  the  earth.  I  was  not  disappoint- 
ed in  the  results,  though  their  mother  was  sorely 
afraid  they  would  grow  up  young  savages  rather 
than  men  fitted  for  their  day  and  time.  Per- 
haps they  did  not  come  on  as  quickly  as  they 
would  have  done  if  they  had  been  reared  in  a 
different  manner;  but  when  they  finally  got  into 
the  fight,  they  counted  for  their  full  weight.  I 
have  taken  care  to  impress  upon  them,  in  one 
way  and  another,  the  fact  that,  in  my  opinion, 
they  owe    their    success    and   vigor,    in    the    main, 


SOME  FOOLISH  NOTIONS,  77 

to  the  toughening  processes  of  their  early  life. 
It  was  not  so  much  training  as  the  lack  of  train- 
ing. So  they  have  all  promised  me  not  to  send 
a  boy  to  college  until  he  has  had  at  least  one 
year  of  opportunity  to  develop  muscle  and  brain 
and  heart,  either  by  actual  roughing  it  upon  the 
mountains  or  at  sea,  or,  what  is  still  better,  by 
working  steadily  and  faithfully  at  some  manual 
avocation." 

"And  which,"  I  asked  laughingly,  "do  you 
consider  that  the  boy  is  doing  here  ?  Roughing 
it  among  the  mountains,  I  suppose." 

"  I  am  not  so  sure  but  that  is  what  would 
have  resulted,"  responded  the  doctor,  "  if  Edgar 
had  waited  for  me  to  make  his  life  for  him. 
The  fact  is,  our  boys  have  been  gone  from 
home  so  long  that  it  was  a  perfect  luxury  for 
Harriet  and  me  to  have  one  around  the  house. 
Really  I  did  not  know  how  much  I  had  missed 
my  children  until  this  young  fellow  came  and 
took  possession.  We  just  gave  up  our  lives  to 
him  as  if  he  had  been  a  beautiful  young  demi- 
god come  to  restore  our  own  lost  youth.  We 
lived  in  him  and  grew  young  again.  I  think  we 
should  have  humored  him  in  all  things,  and  have 
unfitted  him  for  any  sort  of  life,  if  his  father 
had    not    infused    into   him   my  old    idea,   so   that 


78  BLACK  ICE. 

within  a  week  after  his  arrival  he  liad  ah-eady 
become  impatient  to  know  what  he  was  to  do 
during  his  twelve  months  of  sojourning  in  the 
wilderness." 

*'  What  did   you  set   him  at  ?"  I   asked. 

"Set  him  at?  Bless  you,  Reynolds,  I  didn't 
have  a  chance  to  set  him  at  anything.  I  simply 
told  him  I'd  look  around;  and  before  I  had  fairly 
begun  to  do  so,  he  started  off  one  morning  with 
a  pair  of  blue  overalls  under  his  arm  and  a 
dinner-bucket  in  his  hand,  down  to  Smith  &  Tan- 
ner's machine-shop,  where  I  found  he  had  en- 
gaged himself  for  the  whole  3^ear  for  next  to 
nothing,  on  condition  that  he  should  be  allowed 
to  learn  just  as  many  things  as  he  could  honest- 
ly and  fairly  pick  up.  Well,  he  has  been  at  work 
there  ever  since,  just  as  steady  as  if  he  was 
forty  instead  of  twenty;  going  to  the  city  every 
Saturday  afternoon  for  a  lesson  in  mechanical 
drawing,  and  settling  down  to  the  business  as  if 
lie  had  nothing  before  him  in  life  except  to  be  a 
practical  machinist." 

"You  don't  tell  me!"  I  exclaimed,  giving  the 
old  man's  hand  a  congratulatory  shake.  '^  Bring 
him  up  by  all  means.  I  know  of  nothing  in  the 
world  that  would  give  me  greater  pleasure  than 
to  look   in  the   eves   of   a   voung  American  that  is 


SOME  FOOLISH  NOTIOXS.  T9 

really  determined  to  learn  to  do  sometliing  wiili 
his  hands.  I  thought  it  quite  gone  out  of  fashion, 
and  that  nobody  really  mastered  a  manual  occu- 
pation in  this  country  now,  outside  of  the  making 
of  toys  and  spectacles  or  the  setting  of  type,  ex- 
cept Germans  and   Scandinavians." 

"Well,  well,"  laughed  the  doctor,  "I  admit  that 
Edgar  is  a  rara  avis;  but  he  is  certainly  working 
hard  and  steadily,  and  I  judge  is  giving  his  brain 
a  good  healthy  rest.  I  told  him  he  was  not  to 
open  his  books  nor  look  at  a  sentence  of  Greek 
or  Latin  during  the  whole  year;  and  from  pres- 
ent indications  I  should  say  there  was  little  danger 
of  my  being  disobeyed.  Some  would  consider 
this  a  waste  of  time,"  said  the  old  man,  shak- 
ing his  head,  "but  I  have  observed  that  our 
American  people  have  time  for  everything  in  the 
world  except  for  rest  and  work — real  rest  and 
good  honest  work.  The  best  work  that  a  man 
can  do  requires,  first  of  all  things,  a  big  reserve 
of  rest.  A  tired  brain,  like  a  half-exhausted  bat- 
tery, may  give  off  bright  flashes,  but  it  takes 
freshly-cleaned  plates  and  sharp  biting  acids  to 
give  a  steady  flow  on  the  wires.  So  I  have  always 
maintained  that  the  best  thing  that  can  be  done 
for  a  boy  who  wants  to  accomplish  something — ■ 
to  do  the  most  work,  and   the  best  he  is  capable 


80  BLACK  ICE. 

of — is  to  give  liis  brain  an  absolute  rest  between 
the  struggle  of  preparation  and  the  graver  task  of 
the  college.  It  seems  like  wasting  time,  perhaps, 
and,  so  far  as  any  immediate  advancement  of  in- 
tellectual preparation  is  concerned,  it  may  be; 
but  a  boy  that  has  been  working  hard  for  three 
or  four  years,  or  more  probably  six  or  eight,  as 
lie  must  to  keep  his  place  in  our  public  schools, 
is  just  as  much  in  need  of  rest  as  a  man  who 
has  discharged  the  duties  of  an  active  life  for 
forty  years,  and  is  able  to  get  a  good  deal  more 
profit  out  of  it  too." 

In  this  opinion  I  heartily  concurred;  but  Miss 
Allie,  whose  Western  notions  excluded  all  idea 
of  the  need  or  value  of  rest,  flatly  declared  that 
for  her  part  she  did  not  see  how  a  young  man 
who  was  fitted  for  college  could  content  himself 
in    a    greasy    machine-shop. 

"Aye,  aye,  that  is  it,"  said  the  old  doctor; 
"that's  what  is  the  matter  with  the  boys.  Of 
course,  we  cannot  expect  them  to  grow  up 
strong  and  sturdy  hand-workers  and  brain- 
workers,  capable  of  doing  a  soldier's  duty,  as 
your  father  did.  Miss  Allie,  just  as  long  as  you 
young  ladies  cast  your  influence  on  the  other 
side.  I  declare  I  don't  believe  I  will  let  Edgar 
come    here  at    all.     It    is  bad  enough  for  the  lad 


SOME   FOOLISH  NOTIONS.  81 

to  be  exposed  to  such  a  battery  of  charms  at  the 
best,"  said  the  old  man,  bowing  gallantly  to  the 
gay  trio,  ^'  but  to  come  here  and  be  corrupted 
by  such  notions  as  that — " 

"  O,  you  must  let  him  come,"  interposed 
Bertha. 

"  Yes,  indeed,"  said  Allie,  putting  her  hand 
familiarly  on  the  old  doctor's  arm.  She  had 
been  a  favorite  with  him  during  her  former 
visit,  and  knew  very  well  that  his  grimness  was 
all  upon  the  surface. 

"I  don't  know  about  it,"  said  he,  pulling  down 
his  brows  and  wrinkling  up  his  eyelids.  *' I 
don't  know  about  it.  The  boy's  quite  contented 
now,  and  likely  to  make  a  man  if  he  keeps  on. 
If  he  should  hear  such  heretical  notions  enforced 
by  your  seductive  wiles,  I  might  never  be  able 
to  reduce  him  to  subjection  again  at  all.  No,  I 
think  he  had  better  bide  at  home  Thanksgiving 
Day." 

*'  O,  we  w^on't  hurt  him,"  said  Allie,  demurely, 
but  with  a  saucy  toss  of  her  head  and  a  flash 
of  her  bright  eyes  that  boded  ill,  I  thought, 
for  the  young  man's  peace  of  mind.  "We  won't 
liurt  him,"  she  continued,  patting  the  old  man's 
shoulder.  "We  will  put  him  in  Maud's  care, 
and    you     know     Maud     is     just     the     properest 


82  BLACK  ICE. 

young    lady    that    was    ever    born— west    of    the 
Mississippi." 

"Why,  Allie  !"  said  Maud,  with  a  quick  flush 
mantling  her  cheeks,  as  she  cast  down  her  eyes. 
''Tliere,  there,  Sis,  you  needn't  say  a  word. 
Mamma  is  not  liere,  and  I  am  going  to  have 
just  the  best  time  in  the  world,  saying  whatever 
pleases  me.  As  I  said,  doctor,  Maud  is  the 
most  harmless  girl  in  the  world;  and  as  for  me, 
— you  know  I  fell  in  love  with  the  boy's  grand- 
father  two  years   ago." 

"Well,  I  declare  !"  said  the  old  doctor.  "This  is 
a  pretty  state  of  affairs.  And  you  expect  me  to 
bring  that  innocent  boy  here  to  be  exposed  to 
such  blandishments?  Not  much.  I'm  not  quite 
sure  of  myself,  even.  Gracious  !  Miss  Alice, 
what  do  you  suppose  Mrs.  Colton  would  say  to 
that?  Please  get  my  hat,  Bertie,"  he  continued, 
rising  hastily.  "  It's  high  time  I  was  going. 
Bring  the  boy?  No,  indeed  !  not  for  the 
world  !" 

"  O,  doctor!"  implored  Bertha,  "you  must 
not  say  that.  You  cannot  have  your  hat  nor  your 
over-coat  until  you  take  it  back.  You  must  let 
him  come;  we  shall  not  have  any  fun  at  all 
without  him." 
_  "-0,     I    shall     have    fun    enough,"    said    Allie, 


SOME  FOOLISH  NOTIONS.  83 

glancing  saucily  at  the  doctor.  "I  am  to  sit  by 
you  at  the  table.     Am   I    not,  Aunt    Hester?" 

"  No,  indeed,  my  dear,"  replied  my  wife.  *'  I 
have  arranged  that  matter,  and  I  shall  place  you 
— let  me  see  where — O,  I  shall  place  you  next 
to  Aunt  Harriet;  she  will  ta*ke  care  of  you." 

Allie  pouted  saucily,  and  Maud  took  occasion 
to  offer  a  word  of  apology  for  her  elder  sister's 
levity.  Bertha  was  not  to  be  diverted  from  her 
purpose,  however.  She  was  a  pet  of  the  doctor, 
and  accustomed  to  coax  him  to  do  almost  any- 
thing she  wished. 

*'  Now,  doctor,"  she  entreated,  you  will  let  Ed- 
gar come,  won't  you  ?  That's  a  dear,"  she  con- 
tinued, holding  the  old  man's  hat  tantalizingly 
behind  her,  and  backing  away  out  of  his  reach 
as  she  did  so. 

"Don't  ask  me,  child — I  don't  think  it  safe," 
replied  the  doctor,  shaking  his  head  with  mock 
solemnity. 

"  O,  I  will  take  care  of  him,"  she  added, 
balancing  herself  upon  one  foot,  and  turning 
her  head  archly  upon   the  side. 

"  You  !  Worse  and  worse  !  "  said  the  doctor. 
"  Why,  he  lost  his  drawing-lesson  only  the  other 
day  through  taking  you  out  skating." 


84  BLACK  ICE. 

"Skating!"  It  was  my  wife  who  spoke.  That 
was  all  she  said,  but  it  was  enough. 

The  doctor  saw  at  once  that  he  had  put  his 
foot  in  our  domestic  tranquillity,  and  thought 
of  nothing  but  getting  himself  outside  the  door. 
Allie  and  Maud  looked  at  their  auntie  in  sur- 
prise, while  Bertha  *•' started  like  a  guilty  thing 
upon  a  sudden  summons,"  and  then  stood  with 
her  head  down  awaiting  what  might  come. 
When  the  doctor  reached  for  his  hat  she  made 
no  effort  to  retain  it.  That  worthy  lost  no  time 
in  making  his  exit,  but  my  wife  forgot  to  return 
his  parting  salutation.  She  sat  gazing  in  stony 
silence  at  her  errant  daughter. 

Hardly  had  the  door  closed  upon  the  doctor*s 
retreating  figure,  however,  when,  despite  all  at- 
tempts on  my  part  to  divert  her  attention,  she 
broke  the    silence  with  the  horrified  exclamation: 

"Ber— tha  Reynolds  !  Bertha  Reynolds,— /^ — 
this — true  .?" 

Bertha's  head  was  downcast  and  her  cheeks 
flushed  as  she  answered: 

*'Yes,  mamma." 

"  Did  you  not  know  that  I  disapproved  of 
skating  ?"  asked  her  mother. 

"I  thought  you  were  afraid  to  have  me  skate, 
mamma,"  answered  Bertha,  glancing  towards  her 


SOME   FOOLISH  NOTIONS.  85 

mother  with  tears  in  her  eyes.  "  I  did  not  know 
you  disapproved  of  skating  or  I  would  not  have 
done  it." 

"  Did  you  not  know,"  said  her  motlier,  some- 
what mollified  by  the  child's  frankness,  but  not 
ready  to  confess  herself  conquered — "did  you 
not  know  that  it  was  a  very  wrong  thing  for  a 
girl  of  your  age  to  go  out  upon  the  ice  in  that 
way  ?" 

"  He  said  it  was  perfectly  safe." 

"  He  ?     And  who,  pray,  is  '  he  '.?  " 

"Why,   Edgar,  of  course." 

"A  young  gentleman  we  do  not  even  know." 

"Why,  I  know  him,  mamma." 

"  Have  you  ever  been  introduced  to  him,  my 
dear?" 

"No,  not  to  say  introduced,  but  I  met  him 
out  geologizing  one  day  when  he  first  came,  and 
we  have  been  good  friends  ever  since." 

"That  is  what  comes  of  your  notions  about 
what  a  girl  may  be  allowed  to  do,  Percy,"  said 
my  wife,  severely. 

"  Well,  my  dear,"  I  answered  laughingly,  draw- 
ing Bertha  down  upon  my  lap  while  I  wiped 
away  the  tears,  "if  nothing  worse  happens  to 
our  daughter  than  making  the  acquaintance  of  a 
young    man    like    Edgar   Colton,   climbing   about 


86  BLACK  ICE. 

tlie  hills,  with  a  hammer  and  a  bag  of  speci- 
mens over  his  shoulders,  and  perhaps  a  volume 
of  Dana  and  a  magnifying-glass  in  his  pocket, 
we  are  not  likely  to  suffer  much  on  her  ac- 
count." 

"Oh  dear,  Percy,  I  was  in  hopes  that  wdien 
Maud  and  Allie  came  you  would  at  least  cease 
to  encourage  Bertha  in  such  ridiculous  freaks." 

"  Which  do  you  mean,  geologizing  or  skat- 
ing ?"  I  innocently  inquired. 

'' O,  you  know;  skating,  of  course" — with  sar- 
castic emphasis. 

"But,  my  dear,"  said  I,  remonstrantly,  *' it  does 
not  strike  me  as  at  all  ridiculous.  The  fact  is, 
she  was  tempted  to  the  river  by  the  sight  of 
others'  enjoyment,  and  naturally  wished  to  share 
in  it.  You  know,  my  dear,"  I  added,  "  a  sheet 
of  smooth  black  ice  is  a  temptation,  and  Bertha 
is  not  the  first  young  lady  that  has  gone  far- 
ther than  the  river  bank  to  meet  a  strange  young 
man." 

"Now,  Percy!"  said   my  wife,   reproachfully. 

"What  do  you  mean,  papa,"  exclaimed  Bertha, 
seeing  that  her  offense  was  already  forgiven. 
"  Did  mamma  ever  skate  ?  Please  tell  us  all 
about  it." 

'^Yes,   do    tell    us,"    exclaimed    Allie,    eagerly; 


SOME  FOOLISH  NOTIONS.  87 

while  even  serious-faced  Maud  drew  nearer  in 
expectation  of  a  stor^^ 

"  Well,  my  dears,"  I  began  prefatorily. 

"Now,  Percy,"  interrupted  my  wife,  vehe- 
mently, "positively  you  shall  not  tell  that  silly 
tale  !" 

"  O,  please,  mamma,  let  him  tell  it,"  said 
Bertha,  springing  up  and  clasping  her  arms 
about  her  mother's  neck.  "You  know  we  girls 
want  a  story  awfully;    don't  we,  Allie  ?" 

"Yes,  indeed  !"  responded  Allie;  adding,  for  my 
encouragement,  "We  haven't  had  a  real  good 
story-telling  since  Uncle  Percy  was  at  our  house 
a  year  ago;  have  we,  Maud  ?" 

Maud  assented,  and  I  could  see  by  the 
flush  stealing  over  my  wife's  fair  face  that 
she  was  herself  relenting  ;  so  of  course,  like  a 
prudent  general,  I  began  to  manifest  disinclina- 
tion. 

"  Hush,  my  dear,"  I  said,  shaking  my  head 
solemnly,  "you  must  not  ask  me.  You  see  how 
it  pains  your  mamma,  and  5^ou  know  I  do  not 
wish  to  say  anything  that  would  occasion  her 
discomfort." 

"  Please  let  him  tell  us,  mamma;  tell  him  he 
may,"  implored  the  persistent  daughter. 

"  Of    course     your    papa    can    do    just    as    he 


88  BLACK  ICE. 

pleases,"  said  my  wife,  half  conseiUingly.     "How 
should  I  know  w^hat  he  is  going  to  tell  ?" 

"  But  why  don't  you  want  him  to  tell  any- 
thing, Aunt  Hester?"  inquired  Allie.  "I  am  sure 
it  must  be  something  funny  or  you  would  not 
blush  about  it." 

"  Pshaw  !"  said  my  wife,  rising  and  ringing  for 
the  servant  to  clear  away  the  luncheon,  "  your 
uncle  can  tell  you  anything  he  chooses,"  adding 
with  a  meaning  emphasis  as  she  passed  by  me 
to  enter  the  sitting-room,   "  about  himself  T 

No  sooner  had  she  closed  the  door  behind 
her  than  those  three  girls  pounced  upon  me  as 
if  they  would  tear  out  my  very  life.  The  amount 
of  affectionate  importunity  that  I  resisted  during 
the  next  few  minutes  was  amazing.  But  I  did 
resist  it,  simply  saying  to  the  persistent  trio: 

*' My  dears,  you  see  I  cannot.  It  evidently 
affects  Mrs.  Reynolds's  nerves  too  seriously  for 
me  to  risk   telling  you   a  skating  story." 

"  O,  papa,"  entreated  Bertha,  "  is  it  about 
mamma?  and   wdiy   doesn't  she  want   it  told?" 

"  Really,  my  dear,"  said  I,  "  I  cannot  answer 
either  of  those  questions  unless  she  bids  me  do 
^o;  but  if  you  girls  wnll  put  your  heads  up  close 
Here  where  I  can  whisper  to  you,  I  will  tell 
you  what  I  think  is   the   reason." 


SOME  FOOLISH  NOTIONS.  89 

Three  pearly  ears  were  crowded  just  as  near 
to  my  lips  as  it  was  possible  for  them  to  get. 
I  was  tempted  to  kiss  them  all,  but  restrained 
my  inclination,  and  simply  uttered  in  a  ghastly 
whisper  one  word:  '''■  Jealousy T  Then  I  rose  and 
fled,  while  they  pelted  me  with  blows  and  re- 
proaches, mocking  glances,  and  cries  of  *' Shame! 
shame  !"  pursuing  me  to  the  very  door  of  the 
sitting-room  through  which  I  escaped  into  my 
wife's  presence,  where  I  knew  they  dared  not 
come  with  such  an  accusation. 


CHAPTER  V. 


ADVISED    AND    ENJOINED. 


'T^HANKSGIVING  DAY  dawned  clear  and 
bright.  The  sharp  dry  air  and  round 
hard  pellets  of  snow  which  the  gusty  wind 
drifted  about  in  default  of  the  autumn  leaves 
unseasonably  hidden  away  from  it,  reminded  one 
more  of  January  than  of  November.  The  sun 
looked  warmly  dov/n  as  if  remonstrating  at  the 
undue  shortening  of  its  reign.  The  snow  upon 
the  roofs  melted  and  formed  long,  glittering 
icicles  upon  the  southern  eaves.  Cragholt  for  a 
week  had  been  resonant  with  the  murmur  of 
that  preparation  which  comes  in  every  home 
where  a  drop  of  Puritan  blood,  actual  or  im- 
aginary, asserts  itself  in  that  one  day  of  mild 
rejoicing  the  primitive  New-Englander  allowed 
himself,  not  professedly  for  his  own  gratifica- 
tion, but  under  the  specious  plea  of  glorifying 
God  by  partaking  of  the  good  things  of  His 
hand  one  day  in  every  three  hundred  and  sixty- 
five  without  mixing  with  his  pleasure  the  bitter 


ADVISED  AND  ENJOINED.  91 

waters  of  Marah.  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  this 
festival,  established,  without  any  attempt  to  re- 
peat or  continue  its  observance  after  the  first 
memorable  occasion,  became,  to  a  people  jealous 
of  all  religious  observances  not  specially  author- 
ized and  enjoined  by  Scripture,  almost  as  distinct 
a  type  of  the  life  sprung  from  New  England 
as  the  Feast  of  the  Passover  is  of  Israelitish  faith. 
The  village  below  was  early  astir.  The  sleigh- 
ing, which  had  been  of  dubious  quality  before, 
was  prime  that  day.  This  fact  gave  to  the  day 
a  more  enjoyable  and  rollicking  aspect  than  Amer- 
ican holidays  usually  display.  The  ice  upon  the 
river,  which,  till  that  time,  had  been  smooth 
and  clear,  was  now  unfortunately  covered  with 
snow,  so  that  the  skaters  were  obliged  to  find 
recreation  upon  land.  The  river-road  was  full  of 
sleighs ;  the  hilly  streets  alive  with  coasters. 
Shouts  and  laughter  and  the  jingle  of  bells 
floated  up  to  us  from  the  valley.  The  river 
seemed  like  a  ribbon  of  white  velvet  spread  be- 
tween its  rugged  banks,  flecked  here  and  there, 
where  the  sun  touched  its  surface,  with  glowing 
crystals.  Dark  rocks  and  clustered  evergreens 
shone  through  the  mantle  of  snow.  The  great 
black  engine  drew  its  train  like  a  wriggling  ser- 
pent   along    the    opposite    bank,    sending    up    a 


92  BLACK  ICE. 

column  of  dun  vapor  where  it  passed  through 
the  shadow,  and  one  of  fleecy  light  where  the 
sunshine  crept  between  the  hills  and  kissed  its 
smoky  rings.  We  heard  its  angry  snort  as  it 
fought  its  way  sullenly  and  stubbornly  through 
the  heaped-up  drifts,  and  almost  laughed  at  the 
petulant,  defiant  blast  with  which  it  dashed  into 
some  newly-discovered  obstacle,  sending  a  shower 
of  frosty  fragments  flying  from  the  sides  of  the 
giant  plow  that  cleared  its  path  along  the  icy 
track.  The  whistle  echoed  among  the  hills, 
muffled  and  softened  by  their  covering  of  snow. 
As  I  watched  the  train  disappear  around  the 
base  of  the  mountain  about  which  the  river 
swept,  a  span  of  chestnut  trotters  came  into  my 
field  of  vision  around  the  corner  of  the  house. 
Not  only  form  and  color  but  the  ease  and  free- 
dom of  their  movement  showed  unmistakable 
traces  of  their  Blue  Grass  origin.  Prancing  and 
curveting,  they  dashed  along  the  driveway  lead- 
ing from  my  stable  and  turned  into  the  wind- 
ing road  that  ran  from  Cragholt  down  the 
hillside  to  the  village  below.  The  quaint  but 
harmless  antics,  and  the  readiness  with  which 
they  yielded  to  restraint,  and  minced  with  dainty 
footsteps  down  the  sharp  declivity,  attested  not 
only    the    excellence   of    their    training,   but    the 


ADVISED  AND  ENJOINED.  93 

firmness  of  the  hands  that  lay  upon  the  reins. 
They  were  my  one  extravagance — this  pair  of 
finely-bred  roadsters  that  always  met  me  at  the 
station  and  whirled  me  swiftly  up  the  hillside 
to  the  welcoming  portal.  I  hardly  knew  whether 
I  clung  so  steadfastly  to  Cragholt  because  of 
my  fondness  for  the  trotters,  or  to  the  trotters 
because  of  my  fondness  for  Cragholt.  In  fact, 
the  one  was  always  my  excuse  for  the  other. 
If  Hester  proposed  removal  to  the  city,  as  she 
sometimes  did,  the  chestnuts  clinched  the  argu- 
ment against  the  change,  and  we  still  clung  to 
our  eyrie.  If  my  friends  protested,  as  they  often 
did,  against  the  hiding  away  of  such  equine  ex- 
cellence in  a  country  town,  the  inaccessibility  of 
Cragholt  was  a  reason  that  permitted  no  re- 
joinder. If  the  station  had  not  been  a  good 
mile  away,  or  our  home-nest  had  not  been 
perched  upon  a  crag  offering  no  trivial  task 
even  to  the  sturdiest  mountain-climber,  I  should 
have  walked  back  and  forth  from  the  train,  say- 
ing to  myself  that  I  could  not  afford  to  drive. 
Having  fixed  our  home  in  the  clouds,  however, 
the  means  of  ascent  and  descent  were  of  the 
last  importance ;  and  I  easily  persuaded  my 
prudent  spouse,  who  knew  my  weakness  and 
was  never  unmindful  of   aught  that  would   give 


94  BLACK  ICE, 

me  pleasure,  that,  in  horseflesh  at  least,  the  best 
was  always  the  cheapest  and  the  cheapest  never 
the  best.  Bayard  and  Blossom  were  the  out- 
come of  many  domestic  parleyings  and  no  little 
self-sacrifice.  I  do  not  know  just  where  the 
thrifty  housewife  economized  to  make  their  pur- 
chase possible,  but  we  never  felt  the  expenditure, 
and  after  they  had  once  become  domesticated  at 
Cragholt  would  have  reduced  even  our  own 
rations,  I  think,  rather  than  have  parted  with 
them.  Fortunately,  no  such  extremity  had  ever 
come  to  us.  I  thought  of  it  with  thankfulness 
as  they  dashed  by  my  window  that  Thanksgiving 
morn,  their  sleek  coats  glistening  in  the  sun- 
shine, and  their  eyes  aglow  with  suppressed  fire 
that  told  how  the  blood  bounded  through  their 
veins  at  the  prospect  of  exertion  to  which  the 
cold-blooded  horse  must  be  forced  with  the  lash. 
They  were  a  splendid  pair.  I  hope  the  reader 
will  pardon  my  enthusiasm,  and  know  that  if  he 
loves  a  horse  as  the  noble  animal  deserves,  he 
will  do  it  gladly.  I  do  not  care  much  for  dry- 
goods  and  furbelows,  and  have  a  sort  of  con- 
tempt for  those  who  would  transform  our  litera- 
ture into  an  endless  series  of  mere  descriptive 
catalogues  of  millinery  and  haberdashery ;  but 
the  man  or  woman  who  really  loves  God's  works. 


ADVISED  AND  ENJOINED.  95 

and  whose  eye  lights  up  with  appreciation  of 
excellence  in  their  noblest  forms,  finds  always  an 
easy  access  to  my  heart,  and  will,  I  know,  forgive 
me  for  taking  a  neglected  and  despised  way  to 
theirs.  We  cannot  all  be  tailors  and  milliners, — 
more's  the  pity,  perhaps, — and  a  mining  engineer 
is  apt  to  grow  distrustful  of  appearances,  know- 
ing well  that  the  most  precious  metals  are  often 
found  in  the  most  unattractive  matrices.  I  had, 
besides,  that  personal  relation  to  my  pets  which 
enhances  a  thousand-fold  appreciation  of  such 
favorites.  I  had  selected  them  myself  one  sultry 
day  in  May  as  they  browsed  before  me  knee-deep 
in  the  tender  blue  grass  on  the  Kentucky  planta- 
tion where  they  were  foaled.  They  were  year- 
lings then  ;  akin  both  on  the  side  of  sire  and 
dam.  I  bought  them  against  the  advice  of  the 
best  judges,  just  because  they  pleased  me.  The 
experts  declared  it  to  be  a  foolish  thing. 
Though  their  pedigree  was  undoubted  and  em- 
braced the  finest  trotting  strains,  it  was  asserted 
that  they  lacked  so  many  points  of  excellence 
that  even  my  preference  was  for  a  moment  shaken. 
Just  at  that  instant,  as  if  he  read  my  mind,  one 
of  them  raised  his  head  from  the  fresh  herbage, 
glanced  inquiringly  at  me  for  an  instant,  and 
then,     followed     by     the     other,    came     up     and 


96  BLACK  ICE. 

rubbed  his  black  muzzle  familiarly  against  my 
hand.  That  settled  it.  Even  the  breeder  was 
so  impressed  with  the  notion  that  they  would 
never  do  anything  creditable  upon  the  track  that 
he  abated  materially  from  the  price  he  had  put 
upon  them.  I  left  them  in  the  hands  of  the 
trainer  on  the  plantation  where  they  were 
foaled,  only  giving  direction  that  they  should 
be  exercised  regularly,  never  treated  harshly, 
and  never  required  to  do  ""  fine  work." 

The  result  more  than  justified  my  expecta- 
tions, and  three  years  afterwards  they  came  to 
us  playful  as  kittens  and  lithe  as  does.  The 
soft  skin  showed  the  play  of  well-placed  muscle. 
They  were  dainty  creatures  who  fed  as  gently 
as  children  out  of  Hester's  palm  and  suffered 
Bertha's  childish  caresses  without  impatience. 
How  proud  I  was  of  the  lithe,  sleek  beauties  ! 
My  friends  who  had  laughed  at  me  for  disre- 
garding their  wishes  admitted  freely  their  mis- 
take. I  was  urged  to  allow  them  to  be  trained 
and  make  a  trial  of  their  speed.  I  did  so,  and 
timed  them  myself  from  the  grand  stand.  Nay, 
I  even  made  a  small  bet  on  them  against  time, 
in  order  that  they  might  make  "a  record." 
They  made  it  handsomely,  and  I  have  it  framed 
and    hung    above   my   mantel,    duly   attested    by 


ADVISED  AND  ENJOINED.  97 

the  signatures  of  the  magnates  of  the  associa- 
tion in  whose  grounds  the  trial  was  made — 
names  so  well  known  in  the  sporting  world  that, 
like  the  seal  of  a  court,  they  need  no  verifica- 
tion. It  was  not  the  best  record  that  had  been 
made  up  to  that  time,  but  it  was  one  not  to 
be  despised.  I  suppose  I  am  really  prouder  of 
this  certificate  than  of  any  diploma  I  have  ever 
won  myself.  I  thought  of  its  words  as  the  pair 
came  snuffing  and  prancing  into  view  that  morn- 
ing: "  Bayard  and  Blossom,  chestnut  four-year- 
olds — Percy  Reynolds,  owner;  in  double  harness 
against  time,  single  mile-heat,  two  minutes 
twenty-seven  and  a  quarter  seconds." 

They  had  done  it  so  easily  and  steadily  that 
everybody  declared  they  could  do  much  better, 
and  my  friends  besought  me  to  let  them  make 
another  trial.  But  I  would  not  hear  of  it.  From 
that  day  they  have  not  left  my  stable,  and  the 
hand  of  a  trainer  has  never  touched  them  since. 
They  were  my  pets,  my  pride.  I  drove  them — I 
and  James,  the  groom  who  had  come  with  them 
from  their  Kentucky  home,  and  had  cared  for 
them  ever  since  they  were  foals.  Only  James 
and  I,  and  little  by  little,  as  she  grew  older,  and 
under  careful  supervision,  my  daughter  Bertha. 
My   friends    said    it    was    an    unpardonable    ex- 


98  BLACK  ICE. 

travagance.  I  knew  it,  but  pleaded  that  it  was 
my  only  luxury. 

They  were  of  noble  lineage,  too — of  as  high 
descent  as  kings  might  boast,  tracing  their  ances- 
tral line  even  to  the  stud  of  the  Prophet ;  yet 
full  of  the  fresh,  free  life  and  nervous  energy 
of  the  Western  world.  Types  of  the  noblest  of 
their  race,  they  were  matchless  of  their  kind  by 
anything  beyond  the  sea.  Like  his  master,  the 
American  thoroughbred  is  fast  becoming  a  dis- 
tinct species.  Like  him,  too,  the  best  strains 
may  come  from  his  English  prototype,  but  the 
air  of  the  Western  world  has  toughened  his 
muscle,  stimulated  his  nerve,  and  made  him  dis- 
tinctive. 

How  proud  I  was  of  them  as  they  passed  my 
window  that  morning,  every  muscle  quivering 
with  the  thrill  of  the  keen  winter  air,  full  of 
that  trembling  delight  with  which  the  high-bred 
horse  welcomes  the  opportunity  for  action  !  I 
could  almost  feel  the  thrill  of  their  pleasant 
antics.  It  seemed  hardly  prudent  to  trust  that 
bevy  of  young  lives  to  such  a  pair,  guided  by 
a  girl's  hands ;  but  I  knew  Bertha's  wrist.  I 
caught  the  watchfulness  of  her  eye  as  she  threw 
a  quick  glance  at  the  window  where  I  stood  as 
they  sped  by  it.    Bayard  noted  even  this  diversion. 


ADVISED  AND  ENJOINED.  99 

He  felt  that  brief  relaxing  touch  upon  the  rein. 
The  well-bred  trotter  is  ever  jealous  of  a  driver's 
inattention  until  he  drags  himself  homewards, 
tired  and  steaming  after  he  has  done  his  best, 
and  before  the  desire  has  grown  again  to  outdo 
himself.  Even  as  Bertha  turns  her  eye  upon  him 
again  Bayard  rears,  and  Blossom,  ever  ready  to 
second  his  absurdest  motions,  follows  his  ex- 
ample. How  the  black  crests  toss  upon  the 
breeze !  How  the  red  nostrils  show  in  their 
quivering  muzzles,  while  their  slender  forelegs 
beat  the  air,  and  they  stand  for  a  moment  out- 
lined against  the  snowy  slope  beyond  the  river  ! 
It  is  in  vain,  my  beauties  !  The  little  lady 
knows  your  tricky  ways  !  It  is  a  cool  eye  that 
watches  you,  and  a  firm  hand  that  presses  the 
grip  upon  the  rein.  Steady,  now  !  How  finely 
she  brings  the  rascal  down  to  his  place  !  With 
what  a  careless  ease  she  makes  him  know  her 
power !  Perhaps  the  proudest  man  in  all  the 
world  that  day  was  the  one  who  stood  gazing 
out  of  the  library  window  at  Cragholt — Percy 
Reynolds,  Civil   and    Mining  Engineer. 

Bertha,  who  had  inherited  all  my  fondness  for 
the  horse,  was  taking  her  cousins  and  Bobbie 
Twining,  who  had  come  the  night  before  with 
his  father,  for   the   first   real    sleigh-ride   of   the 


100  BLACK  ICE. 

season.  It  was  a  beautiful  picture.  Bertha  and 
Allie  upon  the  front  seat,  matching  well  in 
color  and  vivacity  ;  Bertha  sitting  erect  and 
firm,  with  the  unconscious  gracefulness  of  poise 
that  characterizes  the  accomplished  driver,  a  fur 
gauntlet  stretched  along  each  rein  and  moving 
back  and  forth  with  graceful  ease,  as  she 
restrained  the  one  or  the  other  of  the  eager 
steeds.  One  knew  without  looking  that  hand 
and  eye  were  constantly  alert,  and,  though  they 
might  rear  and  paw  the  air,  the  thoroughly 
trained  horses  were  entirely  under  her  control. 
Allie's  fair  hair,  falling  over  her  dark  habit,  was 
tossed  about  by  the  lawless  breeze,  and  caught 
snow  and  sunshine  in  its  meshes.  They  were 
chattering  gayly  as  they  swept  by,  and  the  laugh 
that  came  back  to  me  as  they  jogged  down  the 
hillside  showed  a  harmony  of  tone  as  marked  as 
the  sympathy  of  their  natures;  for  the  two 
cousins,  who  had  always  been  boon  companions, 
had  now  become  sworn  intimates — for  the  winter 
at  least.  Upon  the  back  seat,  Maud,  the  staid 
younger  sister,  sat  regarding  with  maternal 
solicitude  the  gray  robes  above  which  Bobbie's 
fiery  fez,  black  eyes,  and  glowing  cheeks  were 
visible.  They  were  a  pretty  sight,  as  I  said,  and 
no    father's    heart   in   all    the   valley   leading   up 


ADVISED  ANDENJOIJ^ED.  1,01 

from  the  great  metropolis  bVsid'e  f he  sea  throbbed 
with  more  heart-felt  gratitude  than  mine  as  I 
watched  them  pass  from  sight,  and  with  a  sigh 
of  pleasure  turned  away  from  the  window  to 
begin  the  observance  of  the  old-time  holiday 
with  a  smoke  and  chat  with  an  old-time  friend. 
Jack  Twining  had  been  my  one  particular 
crony  since  our  boyhood.  We  had  fished,  hunted, 
studied,  and  fought  together.  Each  had  shared 
with  the  other  his  pleasures  and  his  possessions, 
and  each  had  claimed  from  the  other,  with  per- 
sistent imperiousness,  not  merely  the  right  to 
share  his  sorrows,  but  even  a  monopoly  of  such 
burden.  In  the  academy  and  college  we  had  been 
inseparable,  and  even  in  our  love  so  closely 
united  that  only  a  party-wall  had  separated  the 
homes  of  our  sweethearts.  .  Year  after  year  our 
friendship  had  flowed  on— a  peaceful,  undis- 
turbed current.  In  all  our  lives  there  had  been 
but  one  approach  to  an  altercation  between  us. 
I  have  tried  a  thousand  times  to  remember  the 
cause  of  that  quarrel,  but  have  never  been  able 
to  do  so.  I  can  only  remember  that  we  were 
standing  alone  in  the  old  school-room.  Jack, 
who  was  skillful  as  I  was  awkward  as  a  penman, 
had  traced  some  graceful  characters  upon  the 
blackboard.     I    had    mocked    or   erased,    I    know 


102  BLACK  ICE. 

not  which.  There wio.  a  dIow— a  clinch;  tables 
and  chairs  were  intermixed,  desks  loosed  from 
their  fastenings,  and  after  a  time  a  couple  of 
battered  boys  stood  looking  confusedly  in  each 
other's  eyes.  It  was  too  much  for  my  sense  of 
the  ludicrous.  I  burst  into  a  laugh,  and  held 
out  my  hand,  which  Jack  grasped  heartily,  and 
said  in  his  grave  way,  as  he  brushed  the  dust 
from  his  clothing: 

"  We  ought  to  be  ashamed,  Percy." 
How  we  came  to  affiliate  at  first  I  could  never 
imagine.     We    were    as    unlike  as  night  and  day. 
I    cannot    remember  when   I    did    not    worry  hirt 
with   my  ill-timed  levity,  but  he  was  never  angrj 
with  me  after  that  once.     Whatever  I  might   sa}! 
or  do,  he    merely  looked    on  with    a    grave,  calm 
smile.     Slighter    in    build   and    less    impetuous  in 
nature,  he  was  3'et  not   lacking  in  manliness.      In 
our   younger    days,    it    is    true,    I    usually    fought 
his  battles  for  him,  but    it  was    simply  because  I 
was  always  the  first  to  meet  the  assailant  and  not 
because  of    any  desire    on    his    part   to    shirk    the 
conflict.     I   do   not    think  he  ever  fought  for  me. 
His  was  one  of  those  calm,  even  natures  that  had 
no  more  need  for  turmoil  than  desire  for  conflict. 
He    took    the    world    easily    but    gravely,    never 
running  to  meet  joy   or  sorrow;  while    I,   despite 


ADVISED  AND  ENJOINED.  103 

my  natural  vivacity,  was  always  discounting  the 
future's  promises  of  hope  and   fear. 

He  was  the  son  of  wealthy  parents,  while 
Poverty  had  been  my  nurse.  He  had  no  wish 
that  need  be  denied,  while  whatever  of  luxury  I 
enjoyed  was  paid  for  in  advance  with  sweaty 
drops.  Not  only  did  the  dear  old  fellow  share 
ungrudgingly  with  me  whatever  advantage  he 
possessed,  but,  looking  back  upon  it  now,  I  can  see 
that  he  very  often  denied  himself  lest  he  should 
wound  my  pride  by  enjoying  what  I  could  not 
share.  He  was  of  slender,  graceful  form,  witli 
great  brown  eyes,  and  hair  that  needed  no  in- 
vitation to  assume  the  most  graceful  lines. 
Long  or  short,  it  curled  or  waved  as  the  occa- 
sioned demanded,  above  his  smooth,  dark  brow 
and  around  his  shapely  head.  I  was  of  sturdier 
build,  with  stiff,  unpromising,  mud-colored  hair, 
that  despite  all  persuasion  stubbornly  asserted 
its  inalienable  riofht  to  stick  out  in  its  own 
peculiar  fashion.  Everything  fitted  Jack,  and 
nothing  fitted  me.  He  Vv'as  the  only  born  gen- 
tleman I  ever  knew,  while  I  was  by  nature  un- 
questionably  designed   for  a   bruiser. 

I  think  I  must  have  begun  to  fight  my  way 
through  life  before  I  was  fairly  out  of  the  cra- 
dle.    Everything  opened  before  Jack's   feet  with- 


104  BLACK  ICE. 

out  waiting  his  demand.  When  we  hunted  and 
fished  together,  he  always  caught  the  finest 
game  and  the  biggest  trout.  I  had  the  bruises 
and  mishaps.  But  then  lie  always  insisted  that 
he  would  never  have  caught  anything  if  I  had 
not  discovered  just  where  the  best  fish  lay  and  put 
him  where  the  game  was  sure  to  run.  He 
never  let  me  miss  a  lesson  if  he  could  get  a 
chance  to  prompt  me,  and  I  never  allowed  him 
to  take  a  drubbing  without  sharing  it.  If  he 
excelled  in  intellectual  tasks,  I  was  his  careful 
teacher  and  guide  in  all  physical  accomplish- 
ments. People  laughed  at  our  friendship  because 
of  our  notable  unlikeness.  Everybody  liked  Jack 
Twining  ;  everybody  dreaded  Percy  Reynolds. 
We  fitted  each  other  as  poorly  as  pig  and  por- 
cupine. Even  our  names  were  mismatches.  No- 
body but  me  called  him  "Jack,"  while  everybody 
called  me  "  Perce,"  pronouncing  it  as  the  Bos- 
tonians  do  Pierce.  He  ought  to  have  been 
Percy  Reynolds,  and  I  ought  to  have  been  Jack 
Twining.  The  only  really  appropriate  thing 
about  us  was  the  fact  that  he  was  a  million- 
aire's delicate  son,  who  was  sent  into  the 
country  to  gain  strength,  while  I  was  the  coun- 
try cooper's  boy,  as  common  as  the  shavings  in 
my  father's   shop,    and  as  uncouth  as  the  dowels 


ADVISED  AND  ENJOINED,  105 

that  held  his  "  knock-down  "  work  together.  In 
college  he  took  naturally  to  the  classics,  while  I 
browsed  on  algebraic  roots  and  the  earthy  facts 
of  physical  science. 

When  we  came  to  fall  in  love,  the  contrarie- 
ties of  our  nature  showed  themselves  again. 
His  Mary  was  the  jolliest  girl  imaginable,  and 
the  only  child  of  a  nabob;  while  my  Hester  was 
grave  and  calm,  and  one  of  many  in  a  house- 
hold not  overburdened  with  this  world's  wealth. 
Next  to  Jack  I  think  Mary  liked  me  better  than 
anybody  else  in  the  world  ;  but  Hester,  though 
she  had  always  a  good  word  for  Jack,  seemed  to 
feel  towards  him  something  of  the  repulsion  that 
separates  similar  natures,  just  as  like  magnetic 
poles  repel  each  other.  Everybody  said  Jack 
ought  to  have  been  in  love  with  Hester,  who, 
though  staid  and  calm,  was  beautiful  and  by  no 
means  rich;  and  that  I  ought  to  have  been  in 
love  with  Mary,  who,  though  short  and  plain,  was 
gay  and  piquant,  and  munificently  dowered. 

I  do  not  believe  I  ever  realized  how  much  I 
loved  Jack  Twining  until  we  came  to  be  together 
in  the  army.  It  used  to  give  me  a  sort  of  frenzy 
to  think  of  his  being  exposed  to  the  enemy's 
fire.  I  believe  if  he  had  been  killed  in  battle  I 
should  have  made  a  mad   break  for  the  enemy's 


106  BLACK  ICE. 

lines  to  avenge  his  death.  It  was  this  very  fact 
that  finally  separated  us.  Slight  as  were  his 
physical  proportions,  the  fatigues  of  the  soldier's 
life  seemed  never  too  much  for  him.  At  first  we 
were  subalterns  in  the  same  regiment.  I  looked 
out  for  him  carefully,  and  saved  him  all  fatigue 
and  exposure  that  I  could.  From  the  first  he 
was  a  favorite  with  the  colonel,  so  that  I  had  no 
difficulty  in  obtaining  leave  to  take  many  an 
exhaustive  detail  that  would  otherwise  have 
fallen  to  his  lot.  It  was  some  time  before  Jack 
found  it  out.  I  think,  perhaps,  it  came  at  length 
to  be  whispered  about  in  the  regiment.  At  any 
rate,  he  became  conscious  of  it,  and  without  my 
knowledge  obtained  a  staff  appointment  I  do 
not  think  anything  had  ever  given  me  more  joy 
than  the  knowledge  of  this  promotion.  It  was 
the  end  of  our  intimacy,  however.  No  sooner 
had  he  an  opportunity  to  display  his  capacity 
and  win  the  esteem  of  his  superiors,  than  pro- 
motion came  to  him  as  all  the  good  things  of 
life  had  come,  unsought.  It  gave  me  some 
twinges  when  I  saw  an  eagle  on  his  shoulders 
before  I  had  won  my  second  bar,  but  I  knew 
that  he  had  deserved  all  that  he  had  received, 
and  felt  that  I  had  received  all  that  I  had 
merited. 


ADVISED  AND  ENJOINED.  107 

When  I  clasped  his  hand  I  knew  that  he  was 
still  my  dear  "old  Jack;"  but  our  lives  had 
never  come  together  again  until  now.  His  ca- 
reer had  been  brilliant  ;  mine  hard.  He  had 
achieved  an  enviable  fame;  I  had  won  a  moderate 
success.  Now  and  then,  in  the  rush  of  life,  we 
had  met  ;  a  bow,  a  hand-clasp,  a  hasty  chat 
upon  the  street,  and  sometimes  a  quiet  lunch  to- 
gether ;  once  or  twice  a  family  dinner — that  was 
all.  They  lived  in  the  city;  we  in  the  country. 
They  were  rich,  and  Hester — well,  Hester  was 
proud.  I  do  not  think  I  should  ever  have  felt 
it.  There  was  never  any  constraint  between 
Jack  and  me,  but  somehow  Hester  seemed  to 
think  there  was  a  great  distance  between  John 
Twining,  the  millionaire,  and  Percy  Reynolds, 
the  hard-working  engineer.  His  wife  had  died 
a  vear  before.  We  were  at  the  funeral,  and 
Jack's  eyes  seemed  to  reproach  me  as  we  stood 
beside  the  grave  for  being  more  heedful  of  his 
loved  one's  death  than  of  her  life.  Ever  since 
that  day  I  had  been  planning  to  get  Jack  Twin- 
ing into  my  home  and  back  into  my  life  once 
more.  Now  he  was  here.  We  lighted  our  cigars 
and  —  thought.  I  had  planned  that  we  should 
have  a  talk  as  long  as  the  thoughts  of  youth; 
but  we  said  very  little. 


108  BLACK  ICE. 

Yet  I  think  I  had  never  observed  Thanksgiv- 
ing Day  so  fitly  before.  The  whole  world 
seemed  full  of  calm  delight.  Why  should  I 
not  be  grateful  ?  Hester  came  in  once  and  sat 
down  between  us  on  a  low  stool  and  rallied  us 
on  our  quietness.  She  seemed  to  have  forgotten 
all  her  lack  of  appreciation  of  Jack,  and  ban- 
tered us  gayly  on  our  early  David  and  Jona- 
than friendship  which  we  had  been  wont  to 
swear  passed  the  love  of  woman,  and  playfully 
ridiculed  the  separatism  of  our  later  years. 
She  told  Jack  how  I  had  followed  every  in- 
cident in  his  career,  and  ended  by  dragging 
out  from  its  hiding-place  a  scrap-book  I  had  no 
idea  she  had  ever  opened,  in  which  I  had 
pasted  whatever  came  in  my  w^ay  of  the  good 
things  the  newspapers  had  said  about  my  "  old 
Jack."  It  was  a  new  thing  to  have  Hester 
enact  the  tease.  That  had  always  been  my  es- 
pecial function  in  the  domestic  economy,  and  I 
had    no    idea    she    could    do  it   so   gracefully. 

As  for  Jack,  I  think  he  was  the  most  puzzled 
man  I  ever  saw.  In  all  the  years  of  her 
maidenhood  I  doubt  if  he  had  ever  heard  Hester 
laugh  as  much  or  as  gayly  as  she  did  that 
morning  in  the  sunny  library,  with  the  gray 
curls    dancing    over   her    smooth    brow    and    the 


ADVISED  AND  ENJOINED.  109 

flush  of  matronly  pride  mantling  her  soft  cheek. 
When  she  declared  with  the  utmost  vehemence 
that  during  her  whole  life  she  had  been  jealous 
of  but  one  human  being,  and  that  one  was  the 
"  Honorable  '^  —  "  General  "  —  ^'  Jack  "  Twining, 
Jack,  poor  fellow,  was  more  disturbed  than  I  had 
ever  seen  him  in  my  life;  and  for  myself,  I  will 
confess  that  her  apparent  earnestness  really  an- 
noyed me.  It  is  not  pleasant  for  a  man  with  a 
bald  head  to  have  it  demonstrated  even  by  his 
wife  that  he  is  still  as  foolishly  fond  of  an  old 
friend  as  a  boy  of  fifteen.  I  am  sorry  to  say 
it,  but  I  was  actually  glad  when  Mrs.  Reynolds 
found  it  necessary  to  withdraw  in  order  to  super- 
intend the  preparations  for  the  event  of  the 
day — the  Thanksgiving  dinner. 

There  was  an  awkward  silence  after  she  had 
gone;  then  Jack  and  I  rose  and  looked  at  each 
other.  He  had  grown  a  little  older,  but  was  in 
the  prime  of  a  magnificent  and  graceful  man- 
hood. I  knew  he  was  scanning  me  too,  and 
glancing  at  the  mirror  behind  him,  I  felt  that 
the  years  which  had  added  grace  and  strength  to 
his  manhood  had  softened  somewhat  my  rug- 
gedness.  For  the  first  time  in  my  life  I  think 
it  flashed  across  me  then  that  *' my  Jack"  had 
no  reason  to  be  ashamed  of  his  old    friend.     We 


110  BLACK  ICE. 

shook  hands  in  silence.  He  left  the  room  with- 
out a  word.  I  sat  down  before  the  grate  and 
wandered  off  into  pleasant  dreams. 

Bertha's  voice  called  me  back  to  earth. 

"  Why,  papa,"  she  was  exclaiming,  in  re- 
proachful accents,  "you  have  spoiled  that  beau- 
tiful paper-knife  I   gave  you  on  your  birthday." 

I    had    stirred    the    fire    in    the    grate    with    the 

gilded  toy. 

But    I    am     forgetting    the    special    thing    for 
which   the  day  was   made— the  dinner.     It  was  a 
rare   party  which    mustered    beneath    the  roof    of 
Cragholt  that  day.     If  I  were  to  live  a  thousand 
years  I  should  not  cease  to  be  proud  of  my  guests, 
and    prouder  still  of  my  own.      Our    dining-room 
was  a  narrow  one,  as  befitted  our  fortunes,  but  I 
thought  as  we  entered  it,  the  mistress  leading  the 
way  on  the  arm  of  Dr.  Colton  and  taking  her  place 
at   the   head  of    the  table,    and    I    following  with 
the  doctor's  wife,  that  I  had   never  seen  a  pleas- 
anter  sight  or  a  fitter  place  for  a  feast  of  thank- 
fulness.    I    do    not   know    how    Hester  had    man- 
ao-ed    so     completely    to    transform    its    plainness. 
I   only   know  that   there  was   a  profusion  of  light 
and    color.      Two    great   oleanders,    which    I    had 
brought     myself     from      their     native      Southern 
home,     had     kindly     withheld     their     latest     fall 


ADVISED  AND  ENJOINED.  Ill 

flowering  until  now  they  filled  each  a  corner  of 
the  room  with  a  wealth  of  snowy  light  just 
tinged   with   fleshly   warmth. 

There  were  flowers  and  vines  and  evergreens 
transforming  tlie  walls  into  a  bower,  while  lights 
glimmered  among  the  leaves  and  cast  a  flood  of 
radiance  on  the  spotless  table  and  its  bright  ap- 
pointments. Hung  in  cages  on  the  limbs  of 
the  oleanders  were  birds  of  various  kinds,  Ber- 
tha's pets,  who  greeted  us  with  an  outburst  of 
song  as  we  entered.  I  had  been  sedulously 
barred  out  of  the  room  until  that  moment,  and 
had  no  idea  of  the  scene  tliat  awaited  me.  I 
think  the  lights  or  the  birds,  or  the  combination 
of  sound  and  color  with  the  sight  of  the  pleas- 
ant faces  about  the  table,  must  have  overpow- 
ered me  for  a  little  while.  Perliaps  it  was  the 
fact  of  Thankss^ivino^  and  the  remembrance  that 
the  past  and  the  future  were  meeting  in  the  de- 
lightful present.  I  recollect  noticing  with  what 
graceful  self-possession  Hester  stood  behind  her 
chair  and  assigned  the  guests  to  their  proper 
places,  I  remember  noting,  too,  with  a  father's 
pride  the  glowing  cheeks  and  sparkling  eyes  of 
Bertha,  as  she  came  in  last  of  the  procession, 
stooping  to  jest  with  her  little  escort,  Bobbie 
Twining,     suppressing     a    laugh     at     his     comic 


112  BLACK  ICE. 

efforts  to  fold  his  hands  upon  the  back  of  tlie 
chair,  as  he  saw  his  elders  doing;  glancing 
slyly  at  her  mother  as  she  did  so,  and  then 
looking  inquiringly  at  me. 

As  I  have  said,  we  were  plain  people,  living 
simply,  entertaining  only  a  few  friends  to  whom 
we  were  so  closely  attached  that  they  seemed 
almost  of  our  own  family.  Such  a  thing  as  a 
company,  even  so  modest  a  one  as  had  gathered 
to  share  our  Thanksgiving  dinner,  was  a  rare 
thing  at  Cragholt.  Of  relatives  we  had  few, 
and  they  were  remotely  scattered.  Life  and 
death  had  narrowed  our  circle  of  friends.  We 
had  grown  old  enough  to  mourn  many  ;  while 
life  had  been  busy  and  eventful  enough  to  com- 
pel us  to  forget,  and  doom  us  to  be  forgotten. 
My  own,  indeed,  had  been  a  rough,  disjointed 
one,  as  much  of  it  passed  in  the  rude  mining 
camps  of  the  West  as  at  home,  perhaps  more. 
I  knew  the  world — the  arena  where  men  meet 
and  mangle  each  other — tlioroughly.  I  had  seen 
the  pits  sanded  for  many  a  bitter  fray.  I  had 
learned  the  ways  of  "  bulls  and  bears,"  and 
pointed  out  the  rottenness  beneath  even  the 
"ground-floor"  of  many  a  glittering  scheme.  I 
knew  the  world — the  solid  earth  on  which  we 
stood.       I    had    breathed,  for    months    at  a   time, 


ADVISED  AND  ENJOINED.  113 

the  burning  air  upon  the  lower  levels  of  the 
Comstock.  I  had  followed  golden-freighted  fis- 
sures into  the  heart  of  the  mountains — aye,  and 
into  the  hearts  of  men,  too — until  I  felt  the 
blackness,  the  silence,  the  fetid  earthiness  of  both. 
But  I  was  not  accustomed  to  societ}'.  Hardly 
half  a  hundred  times  had  I  mounted  a  dress- 
coat  since  my  wedding-day.  When  I  was  at 
home,  a  household  was  enough.  When  away,  all 
other  society  was  a  mockery.  So  while  I  had 
grown  strong,  and  in  a  sense,  perhaps,  not  un- 
polished by  the  friction  of  years,  I  was  inept, 
not  so  much  in  the  duties  of  hospitality,  as  in 
the  art  of  welcoming  and  entertaining.  So  I 
think  I  was  a  little  abashed  as  I  stood  in  my 
place  opposite  the  regal  figure  at  the  upper  end 
of  the  table  and  thought  that  tliis  was  my  home, 
my  Thanksgiving  feast — that  these  were  my 
friends,  the  lives  which  had  given  color  to  my 
life,  or  whose  future  my  life  would  color. 

At  any  rate,  I  forgot  the  duty  of  the  host,  un- 
til I  saw  the  flush  of  embarrassment  upon  my 
wife's  face,  and  noted  the  look  of  anxious  en- 
treaty in  her  eyes.  Even  then  I  could  not 
understand  her  mute  appeal.  I  only  knew  that 
there  was  something  she  wished    me  to  do  which 

I    was    not    doing    nor   likely    to    do.      Meanwhile 
8 


114  BLACK  ICE. 

the  guests  stood  solemnly,  each  in  his  appointed 
place,  in  true  Puritan  style,  with  head  bowed 
over  his  hands  clasped  upon  the  back  of  his 
chair.  Still  I  waited  and  wondered,  until  the 
doctor's  wife,  the  sweet-faced  lady  on  my  right 
to  whom  years  had  never  been  unkind  enough 
to  give  the  lineaments  of  age,  said  in  a  soft 
voice,  hardly  above  a  whisper,  with  that  kind- 
liness of  accent  that  came  from  her  Quaker 
birthright  and  still  sat  gracefully  upon  her  tongue; 
"  Is  thee  not  going  to  give  thanks  ?" 
Then  all  at  once  I  remembered  that  in  my 
grateful  meditations  during  the  day  I  had  written 
some  words  which  seemed  to  me  fit  and  proper 
for  this  occasion.  So  I  drew  forth  a  blurred 
and  crumpled  manuscript  and  read. 

It  was  not,  perhaps,  just  what  the  good  lady 
expected,  but  I  think  she  approved  my  poor 
attempt  at — 


ADVISED  AND  ENJOINED.  115 


A    THANKSGIVING    GRACE. 

We  give  Thee   thanks,   O  King  of  kings. 
For  all  the   joys   the  season  brings, — 
For  life  and  health,   for  friends  and  home, 
For  blessings   more  than   earthly  tome 
Might  briefly  tell,   or  time  give  scope 
To  sing,   of  Memory  and  of  Hope. 

We  thank  Thee  for  a  land  at  peace, 

For  favoring  seasons,    earth's  increase, 

Escape  from  scourge  of  fire  and  flood. 

Intestine  strife,   fraternal  blood. 

The  pestilence  that  stalks   by  night, 

The  earthquake's  shock,    the  famine's  blight. 

For  all  we  have  of  good  or  ill, 
For  mercy  and  for  judgment  still  ; 
That  woes  endured  were  not  the  worst 
With  which  Thou  justly  might  have  cursed; 
That  Hope  survives,   and  Folly's  scath 
Thy  grace  attests  and  not  Thy  wrath. 

For  all,   O  God,  whom  we  adore. 
Thy  constant  blessing  we  implore  ; 
May  those  we  love  e'er  love  us  still ; 
Forgive  all  those  whose  thoughts  are  ill ; 
With  Thy  sweet  grace  all  evil  hide  : 
In  mercy  let  us  still  abide. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

"in  truth,  it  was  a  goodly  company." 

T  FELT  very  shamefaced  after  reading  this 
unusual  form  of  grace.  Though  I  had  cer- 
tainly thought  of  using  the  crude  verses  in  that 
manner,  I  do  not  think  that  I  had  definitely  con- 
cluded that  I  would  do  so  until  my  memory 
was  jogged  by  the  matron  in  gray  silk,  who 
stood  at  my  side.  Looking  down  the  table 
upon  either  side,  however,  as  we  took  our  seats, 
I  did  not  at  all  regret  what  I  had  done.  A 
tender  silence  rested  over  the  little  company, 
and  I  thought  we  had  begun  our  Thanksgiving 
feast  in  a  most  appropriate  spirit,  I  even  fan- 
cied that  I  saw  a  hint  of  tears  in  more  tlian 
one  pair  of  eyes,  but  it  is  probable  that  they 
were  in  my  own  instead.  The  silence  did  not 
last  very  long.  Master  Bob  broke  the  ice  and 
established  what  diplomatists  would  call  a  basis 
of  negotiation,  by  announcing  in  a  most  matter- 
of-fact  tone  that  he  too  had    some  verses  he  was 


A    GOODLY  COMPANY.  117 

"going  to  say,"  but  not  until  after  dinner  was 
over.  With  the  laugh  that  followed,  the  spatter 
of  conversation  began  and  the  little  company 
was  at  ease. 

It  was  not  a  brilliant  gathering;  it  would  not 
be  hard  to  find  a  more  pretentious  and  perhaps 
to  a  stranger's  eye  a  more  attractive  one  ;  yet  to 
me,  with  my  knowledge  of  the  lives  and,  as  I 
thought,  of  the  hearts  of  the  little  company, 
there  seemed  never  to  have  been  one  more 
charming.  The  old  doctor,  keen  and  wiry,  "with 
his  restless  eyes  aglow,"  his  form  unbowed  by 
time,  was  easily  the  Menelaus  of  our  board, 
"  rich  with  the  wisdom  of  the  years."  His  long 
black  hair  straggled  across  the  white  dome  that 
rose  above  his  shaggy  brows,  in  fantastic  defiance 
of  fashion  and  elegance.  His  great  dark  eyes 
were  like  the  "war-clouds  rolling  dun,"  pointing 
with  expressive  glances  his  incisive  wit.  His 
shapely  hand  flashed  now  and  then  like  a  white 
wand  across  the  current  of  his  conversation^ 
Taken  all  in  all,  he  formed  a  splendid  foil  to 
the  sedate  lady  who  did  the  honors  of  the  table. 
Opposite  the  doctor  sat  John  Twining,  the  most 
distinguished  member  of  our  little  company,  as 
the  world  counts  distinction — a  very  Sir  Galahad 
in    knightly    achievement,    modesty,    and    sweet- 


118  BLACK  ICE. 

ness.  What  a  harmony  of  tone  and  character 
there  was  between  him  and  the  dark-eyed  Maud, 
who  sat  beside  him!  I  saw  her  eyes  kindle  and 
her  cheek  flush  with  interest  as  she  listened  to 
the  conversation  between  the  doctor  and  her  es- 
cort, now  and  then  catching  a  word  herself  and 
tossing  back  a  bright  phrase  or  a  light  laugh, 
her  earnest  young  nature  showing  a  delightful 
sympathy  with  their  maturer  thought.  I  do  not 
believe  that  I  had  ever  felt  a  throb  of  the 
match-making  instinct  in  my  life  before.  Per- 
haps even  then  it  was  the  result  of  a  profound 
conviction  that  my  wife  was  innocently  seeking 
the  happiness  of  another  pair  present  which 
caused  the  thought  to  flash  through  my  mind. 
However  that  may  be,  I  could  not  help  wishing 
that  the  young  life  of  our  gentle  cousin  Maud 
miofht  some  time  draw  closer  to  the  heart  of 
dear  old  Jack  Twining.  Upon  her  left  sat  the 
doctor's  grandson  Edgar.  He  was  a  young  man 
in  whom  it  was  easy  to  trace  the  characteristics 
which  the  doctor  had  given  in  his  humorous 
description  of  a  few  days  before.  He  was  tall 
and  rather  spare,  showing  a  good  deal  of 
muscular  power  and  giving  promise  of  a  com- 
manding presence.  His  face,  somewhat  long  at 
best,  had   all   its  defects   and  angularities  empha- 


A    GOODLY  COMPANY.  119 

sized  by  the  close-clipped  dark-brown  hair  that 
set  out  sharply  and  stiffly  over  his  head.  Bash- 
ful and  awkward  as  he  evidently  was,  his  keen 
eyes,  clear-cut  mouth,  and  shapely  jaw  showed 
that  there  was  no  lack  of  character  and  deter- 
mination about  him,  while  an  occasional  lifting 
of  his  brows  and  half- perceptible  twitching  of 
the  corners  of  his  mouth  betrayed  the  fact  that 
the  grandfather's  sense  of  humor  was  not  en- 
tirely extinct  in  his  descendants.  All  this  I 
noted  as  I  listened  to  the  bantering  chatter  of 
the  beautiful  Allie,  who,  conscious  of  her  charms, 
had  taken  the  young  man  in  charge  with  a 
patronizing  freedom  that  smacked  almost  of 
ridicule  of  his  uncouthness.  Aha  !  I  thought  to 
myself.  The  pretty  bird  does  not  know  how 
strong  a  nature  she  is  sporting  with.  Look  out 
that  you  do  not  get  your  feathers  ruffled  before 
the  play  is  over,  my  fair  one  ! 

I  could  but  smile  as  my  eye  left  this  happy 
pair  and  rested  on  the  fair  lady  at  my  side, 
in  whose  snow-white  locks  the  hint  of  their  once 
golden  color  was  no  longer  traceable.  The  deli- 
cate face  matched  well  the  soft  white  kerchief 
that  wrapped  her  throat,  while  her  tender  blue 
eyes  seemed  to  have  gathered  little  of  the  dim- 
ness of  age,  but   only  something  of    the  distance 


120  BLACK  ICE. 

of  the  sky's  azure  as  she  neared  the  end  of 
life's  journey.  I  could  but  smile,  because  I 
found  her  studying  also  with  approving  intent- 
ness  the  young  girl  beside  her.  She  must  have 
felt  my  glance ;  for  as  she  turned  and  met  it, 
she  said,  as  if  she  knew  she  had  been  thinking 
my  thought  : 

*'I  am  glad  Edgar  and  thy  pretty  cousin  have 
met.     They  need  each  other." 

Ah,  wise  heart  of  loving  woman  !  It  was  no 
wonder  the  doctor's  voice,  even  at  his  years,  took 
a  tenderer  tone    when   he    spoke  of   ''Harriet." 

Next  to  the  doctor  sat  Bertha,  and  beside  her 
Bobbie  Twining.  Here  childhood  reigned.  The 
girl  had  forgotten  the  hint  of  budding  woman- 
hood and  enjoyed  to  the  full  the  frolicsome 
mirth  that  filled  the  boy's  heart. 

Upon  my  left  sat  Mrs.  Somers,  and  next  to 
her  George  Hartzell.  As  I  glanced  from  one  to 
the  other  I  could  not  wonder  that  my  wife 
should  be  guilty  of  the  innocent  diplomacy  I 
attributed  to  her,  in  order  to  bring  them  to- 
gether. If  there  were  ever  two  natures  that 
seemed  especially  designed  to  supplement  each 
other,  or  two  lives  whom  every  one  could  see 
were  fitted  to  round  out  the  circle  of  each  other's 
happiness,    they     were      unquestionably     George 


A    GOODLY  COMPANY.  121 

Hartzell  and  Helen  Somers.  It  was  no  wonder 
that  he  was  a  favorite  with  all  who  knew  him. 
Without  any  lack  of  manliness,  he  was  one  of 
those  men  whom  everybody  calls  by  their 
Christian  names.  He  had  come  to  the  village 
with  his  widowed  mother  some  years  before, 
a  young  man  of  twenty-five,  with  strains  of 
tenderness  and  dignity  in  his  character,  which 
every  one  attributed  to  his  watchful  care  over 
his  invalid  mother.  In  three  months  he  had 
won  his  way  into  every  house  and  heart  in  the 
village;  old  and  young,  male  and  female,  spoke 
kindly  of  George  Hartzell.  He  had  some  busi- 
ness in  the  city — clerk  or  cashier,  I  understood, 
of  some  great  corporation.  His  salary,  I  think, 
constituted  their  chief  if  not  their  sole  support. 
He  was  a  skillful  musician,  having  inherited  a 
taste  in  this  direction,  and  I  suspect  a  greater 
part  of  his  training,  from  his  mother.  At  any 
rate,  the  chief  enjoyment  of  her  life — she  had 
died  a  year  or  two  before — had  been  little  music- 
al gatherings  in  her  quiet  home.  Because  of 
this,  George  had  come  to  be  regarded  by  the 
village  generally  as  a  musician — a  fact,  I  think, 
somewhat  derogatory  to  the  esteem  in  which  a 
man  is  held  by  our  rural  if  not  by  an  urban 
public.     However  this  might  be,   George,  though, 


122  BLACK  ICE. 

SO  great  a  favorite  in  society,  had  been  singularly 
derelict  in  finding  a  companion  for  his  tife,  and 
at  thirty  odd  was  still  a  bachelor.  He  must 
have  had  many  opportunities  to  marry.  As  I 
glanced  at  him  from  time  to  time,  I  was  sure 
there  must  have  been  many  hearts  among  the 
fair  ones  he  had  met  who  would  have  been  glad 
to  answer  kindly  to  a  tender  word  from  his  lips. 
So  far  as  anybody  knew,  however,  he  had  never 
spoken  a  loving  word  except  to  his  mother. 
While  she  lived  the  village  smiled  at  his  devo- 
tion, and  after  she  had  died  the  gossips  de- 
spairingly declared  that  George  Hartzell  had 
been  so  deeply  enamored  of  his  mother  that  he 
could  see  no  charms  in  any  other  woman.  As 
for  him,  he  carried  his  six  feet  of  manhood  as 
lightly  as  ever.  If  there  was  a  trace  of  care  in 
his  life,  it  never  showed  in  look  or  tone.  The 
brown  curls  clustered  carelessly  about  his  brow; 
the  heavy  mustache  drooped  over  his  full  lips, 
and  his  blue  eyes  looked  as  brightly  in  your 
face  as  if  care  had  never  entered  a  corner  of 
his  heart.  We  who  knew  him  best  knew  only 
this,  that  the  musician  was  a  rare  lover  of  na- 
ture, who,  under  a  no7n  de  plume,  unsuspected 
save  by  a  few,  had  won  an  enviable  standing  in 
literature.      I    had    long    been    anxious    that    he 


A    GOODLY  COMPANY,  123 

and  Twining  should  know  each  other  better. 
There  was  a  harmony  about  their  natures  which 
one  who  knew  them  both  could  easily  detect. 
Besides  that,  I  had  a  notion  that  George,  who 
had  given  his  whole  life  to  his  mother,  had  by 
his  very  devotion  lost  those  opportunities  for 
self-advancement  which  come  to  a  man  only  in 
bis  early  years,  and  after  her  death  found  him- 
self still  bound  by  a  past  of  rigorous  duty  to 
the  treadmill  of  unpromising  daily  toil.  I  thought 
if  Jack  once  knew  this  young  and  cheerful  seif- 
immolater  he  might  be  able,  almost  without  ex- 
ertion, to  put  something  in  his  way  that  would 
make  life  easier  for  him,  and  allow  him  to  seek, 
as  he  had  never  done  hitherto,  his  own  hap- 
piness. 

As  I  glanced  from  him  to  Mrs.  Somers,  it 
seemed  that  my  wife's  thought  had  supple- 
mented mine.  She  was  one  of  those  slight, 
graceful  figures  so  characteristic  of  our  New 
England  life  ;  her  complexion  a  marvelous  com- 
pound of  translucent  white  and  tenderest  rose. 
Her  hair  was  of  a  neutral  brown,  lying  smooth 
upon  her  shapely  head,  and  knotted  simply  at 
the  back.  Her  voice  was  soft  and  finely  modu- 
lated; her  smile  sweet  and  winning.  Her  gray 
eyes   had    a    tender   dewiness    which    was    almost 


124  BLACK  ICE. 

pathetic,  despite  their  steadiness  of  gaze.  It 
needed  no  second  glance  to  assure  one  that  she 
was  that  finest  product  of  American  soil  —  a 
high-bred  New  England  woman.  From  crown 
to  heel  there  was  but  one  word  fitly  describing 
any  attribute — she  was  exquisite.  The  finest 
lines  of  American  life  and  thought  met  in  her 
nature.  Her  age  could  not  be  guessed.  Every 
one  knew  she  would  tell  it  in  an  instant  if  asked, 
but  it  was  doubtful  if  any  one  had  ever  been 
brave  enough  to  make  the  inquiry.  Nobody  in 
the  village  knew  anything  about  her,  though 
everybody  loved  her.  I  say  nobody.  It  was  be- 
lieved that  Dr.  Colton  knew  her  past,  and  that 
there  was  some  painful  mystery  about  it.  That 
she  had  suffered  no  one  doubted.  There  was 
something  in  the  expression  of  her  countenance, 
whether  animated  or  in  repose,  that  told  a  story 
of  sadness  and  suffering.  Even  without  this,  one 
might  have  felt  reasonably  sure  that  no  woman 
of  her  charms — no  woman  who  could  afford  to 
wear  that  trying  and  exasperating  shade  of  gray 
that  seemed  but  to  enhance  her  beauty,  though  not 
one  in  a  thousand  dared  defy  its  power — would 
have  been  at  her  age  simply  a  teacher  in  the  pub- 
lic school  of  Gladesboro,  had  not  some  sad  expe- 
rience driven  her  from  pleasanter  surroundings. 


A    GOODLY  COMPANY.  125 

She  had  come  there  three  years  before.  No- 
body knew  whence  or  how,  except  that  Dr.  Colton 
had  gone  one  day  before  the  School  Board, 
when  there  was  a  vacancy,  and  in  his  masterful 
way  declared  that  Helen  Somers  was  the  best 
woman  in  the  United  States  for  that  position,  if 
she  would  consent  to  accept  it.  As  a  result, 
Helen  Somers  came,  and,  without  any  heart-burn- 
ings on  the  part  of  the  two  or  three  who  stood 
above  her  then,  had  gone  step  by  step  to  the 
highest  place  ever  occupied  by  a  lady  teacher  in 
the  village.  On  the  resignation  of  the  principal, 
some  months  before,  she  had  been  proffered  that 
position,  and,  greatly  to  the  joy  of  the  whole  vil- 
lage, accepted  it.  During  all  this  time,  however, 
though  the  friend  of  every  one,  she  had  made 
no  intimates.  She  seemed  even  to  be  quite  un- 
conscious of  the  fact  that  Dr.  Colton  had  ever 
interested  himself  in  her  behalf.  During  the 
whole  time  she  had  been  in  the  village,  it  was 
said  that  she  had  called  but  once  or  twice  at 
the  doctor's  house,  and  the  gossips  regarded  it 
as  certain  that  if  there  was  a  secret,  Mrs.  Colton 
did  not  share  her  husband's  knowledge  of  it. 
I  had  myself  often  wondered  what  was  the  mys- 
tery that  lay  behind  the  life  of  this  refined  but 
energetic  little  woman.      But   like  all  the  rest  of 


126  BLACK  ICE. 

Gladesboro,  I  had  asked  no  questions;  indeed, 
there  were  no  questions  to  be  asked,  and  nobody 
to  inquire  of  if  there  had  been.  She  was  simply 
Mrs.  Somers,  the  principal  of  the  high-school  of 
the  quaint  little  village  that  had  grown  up  be- 
tween the  hill  and  river  after  the  railroad  had 
pushed  its  way  along  the  other  bank.  The  little 
community  of  city  workers  and  country  dwellers 
took  her  at  her  own  appraisal,  and  found  the 
estimate  none  too  high.  She  had  shown  a  ca- 
pacity not  merely  for  teaching,  but  for  organiza- 
tion that  had  lifted  their  high-school  far  above 
the  level  of  similar  villages,  and  brought  an  in- 
fluence to  bear  upon  the  lives  of  their  children 
that  showed  in  every  home.  So  the  thrifty 
burghers  appreciated  her ;  saw  that  she  was 
worth  money;  paid  her  good  wages,  and  in- 
tended to  keep  her  where  she  was  just  as  long 
as  she  would  stay.  Yet  every  man,  woman,  and 
child  in  the  town,  had  it  been  suggested  to 
them,  would  have  been  delighted  to  have  seen 
her  step  down  from  the  teacher's  desk,  stand 
before  the  altar  in  the  vine-covered  church,  and 
from  thence  go  to  the  little  home  upon  the  hill- 
side the  wife  of  George  Hartzell.  I  do  not  think 
anybody  had  dreamed  of  such  a  consummation 
except  Mrs.  Reynolds;  because  every  one  believed 


A    GOODLY   COMPANY.  127 

that  some  terrible  sorrow  in  the  teacher's  past 
life  had  doomed  her  to  the  duty  which  she  did 
so  sweetly,  but  which  everybody  felt  that  she 
ought  not  to  be  compelled  to  perform. 

Of  course  I  did  not  sit  staring  at  the  com- 
pany, nor  did  the  dinner  wait  while  I  made 
these  meditations.  One  by  one  the  thoughts 
ran  through  my  brain  in  the  intervals  of  the 
feast  and  of  the  conversation,  which  was  varied 
and  entertaining  enough  to  have  occupied  every 
one's  attention,  as  indeed  it  did  mine.  My  wits 
had  really  no  time  for  wool-gathering,  for,  in 
addition  to  the  requirements  of  courtesy  to 
those  upon  the  right  and  left,  I  had  every  now 
and  then  to  take  part  in  the  conversation  of 
each  of  the  various  groups  that  I  have  named. 
The  doctor  seemed  to  have  quite  overcome  Mrs. 
Reynolds's  prejudices,  if  she  really  had  any,  and 
they  with  Twining  kept  up  a  ceaseless  flow  of 
conversation,  the  doctor's  quizzical  tones  contrast- 
ing sharply  with  Twining's  clear,  even  utterances, 
while  Hester's  matronly  imperiousness  was  ren- 
dered all  the  more  attractive  by  Maud's  maid- 
enly timidity.  Sometimes  the  wave  swept  down 
the  table  and  took  us  all  in;  then  it  ebbed  back 
and  forth  until  at  length  each  two  or  three  be- 
came   a    little    storm-center,    from    which    would 


128  BLACK  ICE. 

now  and  then  burst  out  cyclones  of  wit  that 
eddied  around  the  table  or  were  lost  in  the  uni- 
versal murmur.  Amid  this  pleasant  excitement 
I  was  quite  unconscious  that  I  had  been  scan- 
ning the  characters  and  parceling  out  the  fates 
of  my  friends,  until  all  at  once  it  came  to  me 
that  I  had  really  been  carrying  on  a  double 
line  of  thought,  one  ivith  my  guests  and  the 
other  about  them.  I  grew  hot  with  shame  when 
it  flashed  upon  me  that  I  was  really  seeking  to 
enact  the  role  of  the  match-maker.  I  had 
prided  myself  all  my  life  upon  an  utter  lack 
of  inclination  to  intermeddle  with  other  people's 
affairs,  yet  here  I  was  coolly  mapping  out 
the  lives  of  others  and  seeking  to  assign  to 
each  a  future  perhaps  too  absurd  even  for  fate 
to  count  among  its  mockeries.  I  suppose  it 
must  have  been  due  to  the  season.  One  who 
finds  himself  as  happily  situated  as  I  was  on 
that  Thanksgiving  Day  must  be  a  hard-hearted 
man  indeed  if  he  does  not  at  least  dream  of  a 
like  happy  destiny  for  those  he  loves. 

I  am  sure  the  dinner  was  not  a  short  one,  but 
I  have  no  recollection  of  its  composition  or  char- 
acter. I  suppose  it  was  not  much  different  from 
that  which  was  spread  in  many  happy  homes 
that  bright  Thanksgiving  Day.     I  remember  Mrs. 


A    GOODLY  COMPANY,  129 

Colton  praised  it  highly,  and  added  the  happy 
compliment  that  she  was  glad  to  have  eaten 
even  a  Thanksgiving  dinner  outside  her  own 
home.  Bobbie  Twining  seemed  entirely  satisfied, 
which  was  a  still  higher  compliment.  But  the 
conversation  did  not  flag,  and  I  was  still  busily 
engaged  in  picking  over  the  nuts  upon  my  plate 
and  discussing  the  morning  sermon  with  Hart- 
zell,  the  widow,  and  Mrs.  Colton,  who  had  heard 
it  while  Jack  Twining  and  I  were  renewing  our 
acquaintance  in  the  library,  when  the  good  wife 
gave  the  signal  for  rising,  and  we  sauntered  back 
to  the  bright,  cheerful  parlors,  with  the  flavor  of 
pleasant  jests  wherewith  the  dinner  had  been 
seasoned  yet  fresh  in  our  minds. 

The  doctor  immediately  reminded  Bobbie, 
whom  he  persisted  in  calling  "  Chump,"  much 
to  that  young  gentleman's  annoyance,  that  he  had 
promised  to  "  say  some  verses"  for  us  after  din- 
ner, and  insisted  that  the  time  was  now  come 
for  the  fulfillment  of  that  promise.  Bobbie, 
who  was  not  as  hilarious  as  when  the  feast 
began,  made  various  excuses;  but  Bertha's  coax- 
ing, and  a  quiet  word  from  his  father,  induced 
him  to  submit  to  the  inevitable,  and,  mounted 
upon  a  chair,  he  prepared  to  undertake  his 
appointed  task.     It  was   evident  from  the  know- 


130  BLACK  ICE. 

ing  glances  that  passed  between  them  that  the 
merry  girls  had  arranged  to  make  Bobbie  the 
medium  of  some  sort  of  fun  from  which  we 
elders  were  excluded.  At  the  last  m.oment, 
however,  the  boy's  courage  and  his  memory 
both  gave  way  at  once.  No  amount  of  prompt- 
ing seemed  sufficient  to  start  him  right,  or,  once 
started,  to  keep  him  on  the  track.  After  a  dozen 
false  send-offs  he  was  likely  to  break  down 
entirely,  and  there  were  signs  of  tears  in  his 
black  eyes,  when  Hartzell  turned  to  the  piano 
and  rattled  off  a  medley  which  I  think  he  must 
have  improvised  just  to  bring  Bobbie's  spirits 
to  the  sticking  point.  At  least  that  Vv^as  its 
effect;  for  hardly  had  he  finished  the  first  verse, 
when  Bobbie,  who  had  been  studying  his  father's 
eyes  in  the  mean  time,  called  out  with  heroic 
determination  : 

"  I  can  do  it  now  !" 

George  lifted  his  hands  from  the  keys,  his 
foot  slipped  off  the  pedal,  and  whirling  around 
upon  the  piano-stool,  he   called  out  heartily  : 

"  All  right.      Go  ahead  !" 

But  the  sudden  silence  and  the  waiting  faces 
were  too  much  for  the  boy's  memory.  He 
hemmed    and    stammered    as    many    older    folks 


A    GOODLY  COMPANY.  131 

have  done,  while  the  three  conspirators  vainly 
tried  to  prompt  him. 

''  Hush  !  hush  !  "  said  Helen  Somers.  ''  Don't 
bother  him." 

Almost  at  the  same  instant  came  the  calm, 
even  tones  of  Jack  Twining,  who  stood  leaning 
against  the  mantel: 

''Steady,  my  son!     Take  your  time." 

I  remembered  afterwards  the  glance  of  quick,, 
startled  inquiry  which  the  young  widow  shot 
into  the  dark,  impassive  face  above  her.  They 
were  all  quiet  enough  after  that,  and  while 
Bobbie  strove  to  gather  his  wits  I  wandered 
off  into  a  reverie  of  that  last  time  I  had  seen 
Jack  Twining  in  the  glare  of  battle,  when  I 
bore  to  him  an  order  commanding  him  to 
charge  with  his  regiment  one  of  the  deadliest 
spots  in  the  enemy's   lines. 

"  All  right,"  he  said,  as  he  listened  to  the 
command  that  left  no  duty  but  obedience. 
"Good-bye,  old  fellow." 

We  shook  hands  as  he  spoke;  then  he  sprang 
into  the  saddle;  reined  the  black  horse  around 
the  flank  of  his  regiment,  drawing  his  sword 
and  placing  it  at  a  carry  as  he  did  so,  and 
when  he  had  reached  his  place  exactly  in  front 
of  the  center  of  his  line,  with  the  shot  whistling 


132  BLACK  ICE. 

thickly  about  him,  I  heard  his  calm,  even  tones, 
as,  without  turning  his  head  or  once  looking 
back,  he  gave  the  command  : 

"  'Tentio?i,  b'ttalion  !  Shoulder  arms  !  For- 
ward— guide   center— MARCH  !  " 

The  black  horse  and  its  immovable  rider 
passed  on  towards  the  line  of  fire  upon  the 
crest  beyond,  without  questioning  the  ready 
obedience  of  the  steel-crowned  wave  that  fol- 
lowed after.  It  was  a  place  where  the  bravest 
might  well  have  flinched,  but  not  a  man  thought 
of  faltering  while  Jack  Twining  rode  ahead. 

The  same  magnetic  qualities  steadied  the 
young  boy's  nerves,  and  before  I  had  time  to 
finish  my  reverie  he  had  started  bravely'  off  on 
his  appointed  task: 

"I  love  Thanksgiving  'cause  it  brings 
Roast  turkey  and  such  lots  of  things 
So  good  to  eat, 
So  nice  and  sweet ; 
And  fires  so  bright, 
And  snow  so  white  ; 
With  drifts  to  wade, 
Till  paths  are  made  ; 
And  sleighs  to  ride, 
And  robes  to  hide  ; 
And  skates  to  slide, 
And — and — " 


A    GOODLY  COMPANY.  133 

At  this  point  his  memory  failed  utterly,  and 
no  efforts  of  his  prompters  could  bring  to  his 
mind  the  witty  things  they  intended  he  should 
say  of  each  and  every  of  his  listening  elders. 
When  his  voice  failed,  however,  his  eyes  came 
to  his  relief,  and  looking  past  the  expectant 
group  at  a  glass  door  that  opened  on  the  porch, 
he  exclaimed  : 

"  O,  Bruno  !  Look  at  Bruno  !  He's  come 
Ifor  his  Thanksgiving  dinner." 

Jumping  from  his  perch,  he  ran  to  the  door 
and  admitted  the  great  Newfoundland,  whose 
shaggy  coat  was  sprinkled  with  new-fallen  snow. 
Hartzell  turned  to  the  piano,  and  with  ready 
tact  transformed  the  lad's  confusion  into  a  pro- 
nounced success  by  singing  another  installment 
of  his  impromptu  medley  : 

"  Old  dog  Tray  is  ever  faithful, 
Want  cannot  drive  him  away  ;" 

"His  head  was  made  of  pease  straw, 
And  his  tail  was  made  of  hay." 

"  He  came  from  the  mountains 
Of  the  old  Granite  State," 
A  "  Bunthorne  "  in  his   "Patience," 
With  his  "Pinafore"  of  state. 


134  BLACK  ICE. 

"  Down  by  the  old  garden  gate," 

Dear  "Little  maid  of  Arcadie," 
"Tell  me  the  old,   old  story," 
"  With  the  banjo  on  my  knee." 

The  mirth  was  uproarious,  for  George  sang 
it,  according  to  the  slang  of  the  day,  "  for  all 
it  was  worth;"  and  as  Bruno  passed  round  the 
circle,  he  was  the  subject  of  more  laughing  and 
boisterous  attention  than  had  ever  fallen  to  his 
lot  before.  This  unusual  welcome  quite  upset 
his  accustomed  gravity,  and,  apparently  puzzled 
as  to  what  he  ought  to  do,  he  clambered  into 
the  chair  George  had  left,  seated  himself 
gravely,  facing  the  audience  "  like  a  gentle- 
man," as  Bobby  declared,  and  as  George  fin- 
ished the  last  stanza,  opened  his  mouth  and 
took  part  in  the  tumult  with  an  inquiring  but 
resonant  bark.  Every  one  applauded  this  per- 
formance, and  Bobby,  full  of  glee  at  the  out- 
come of  his  brave  attempt,  at  the  suggestion 
of  the  mistress  made  his  exit  with  his  shaggy 
friend  in  tow,  on  the  way  to  the  kitchen,  where 
no  doubt  the  exploit  was  duly  recounted,  and 
Bruno  abundantly  rewarded  for  coming  to  the 
rescue  of  his  nonplussed  little  friend. 

With  their  departure  the  mistress  of  ceremo- 
nies resumed   her    sway   with    the  announcement 


A    GOODLY  COMPANY.  135 

that  the  gentlemen  were  to  be  allowed  one  hour 
for  smoking  and  scandal  in  the  library,  while 
the  ladies  would  enjoy  a  brief  period  of  sensible 
conversation.  At  the  end  of  that  time  we  were 
informed  the  evening's  entertainment  would 
begin  with  music,  to  be  followed  by  a  story  by 
that  one  of  the  gentlemen  who  might  draw  the 
highest  number  in  an  improvised  ballot.  She 
passed  around  a  little  tray  of  cards  for  us  to 
draw  from  as  she  concluded  this  announcement, 
presenting  the  last  to  me.  I  turned  it  over  and 
found  upon  it  the   figure  one. 

"  Just  my  luck,"  I  exclaimed  gleefully,  as  I 
held  it  up  for  inspection.  "  The  lot  has  fallen 
upon  some  poor  Jonah.  I  sincerely  pity  him, 
but  I  could  not  help  it.  I  always  was  a  favor- 
ite of  fortune,  even  drawing  a  prize  in  the  lot- 
tery of  life." 

I  bowed  gallantly  to  Hester  as  I  concluded 
this  flattering  speech,  and  was  greatly  surprised 
at  the  jeering  round  of  applause  that  greeted 
this  remark  until  the  others  held  their  cards  to- 
wards me,  and  I  found  myself  the  victim  of  a 
fraud  if  not  of  a  conspiracy.  All  the  rest  were 
blank,  so  that  mine  was  unquestionably  "the 
highest  number." 

There    was    a    great     laugh    at    my     expense, 


136  BLACK  ICE, 

which  became  still  more  uprearious  when  I 
turned  upon  the  author  of  my  woe,  and  shak- 
ing my  finger  in  her  face,  exclaimed  with  tragic 
emphasis,  hissing  the  last  words  between  my 
teeth  : 

^'I  shall  have  my  revenge,  madam, — 
S-K-A-T-E-S  ! " 

As  we  fled  through  the  hall  to  the  library  I 
heard  the  faintly  reproachful  words  : 

"  Now— Percy !" 


CHAPTER    VII. 


"  1\T^>  ^  don't  know  her  story.  I  don't  even 
know  that  she  has  any  story." 
It  was  the  doctor  who  spoke.  We  were  sitting 
in  the  library — the  doctor,  Twining,  Hartzell, 
and  myself.  Edgar  had  remained  in  the  parlor 
under  the  plea  that  he  did  not  care  to  smoke. 
I  noticed  that  he  did  not  say  he  did  not  smoke, 
and  naturally  inferred  that  he  preferred  the 
society  of  the  ladies  to  a  cigar,  our  company, 
and  the  classic  shades  of  the  library.  So  far  as 
the  cigar  was  concerned  his  choice  was  well 
enough,  but  I  rather  disliked  to  see  a  youngster 
avoiding  the  society  of  older  men.  Even  if  he 
did  not  smoke  he  should  have  come  with  us, 
not  because  it  was  the  proper  thing  to  do,  but 
because  it  was  the  natural  thing  for  him  to 
wish  to  do.  Of  course  there  is  no  better  com- 
panion for  a  sound-headed  young  man  than  a 
healthy-minded  young  woman.  At  the  same 
time  I  believe  that  young  heads  and  hearts   are 


138  BLACK  ICE, 

always  fresher  for  association  with  maturer 
natures,  especially  at  such  times  of  quiet  relaxa- 
tion as  our  withdrawal  to  the  library  implied. 
I  saw  his  grandmother  eying  him  keenly  as  we 
left  the  room,  and  shrewdly  suspected  that  the 
next  time  the  young  man  had  an  invitation  to 
my  workshop  he  would  not  be  likely  to  decline. 
The  fact  is,  I  have  always  been  jealous  of  my 
library,  and  proud  of  the  sense  of  ease  and  hos- 
pitality that  fills  it.  It  is  not  at  all  remarkable 
as  a  library,  and  would  hardly  be  considered 
attractive  as  a  room.  Architecturally,  it  was 
simply  designed  to  adapt  itself  to  the  wants 
of  any  household  that  might  chance  to  inhabit 
Cragholt.  Indeed,  the  whole  house  was  built 
with  that  purpose  steadily  in  view.  I  have  a 
notion  that  a  man  does  a  very  foolish  thing 
who  carries  out  the  modern  idea  of  building  a 
house  on  the  plan  the  snail  makes  his  shell — 
just  to  fit  the  rugosities  of  his  own  nature- 
and  accommodate  itself  to  a  particular  period  of 
his  life.  Still  more  foolish  is  he  who  endeavors 
to  foresee  all  his  future  wants  and  make  pro- 
vision for  them  in  the  arrangement  of  his  habi- 
tation. I  have  an  idea  that  the  snail  him- 
self gets  awfully  sick  of  his  own  work,  wish- 
ing not   only   that    he   had   made  it   bigger,   but 


THE   SCHOOLMA'AAVS  STORY.  139 

that  he  had  waited  until  he  had  seen  more  of 
the  world,  and  decided  not  only  just  what  sort 
of  a  domicile  he  wanted  at  the  moment,  but 
what  he  might  want  at  some  other  time,  and 
so  made  his  lodgings  a  little  more  elastic  and 
adaptable  to  circumstances.  When  Cragholt 
was  built,  Hester,  was  fully  possessed  with  the 
idea  that  one  should  be  measured  for  a  house 
just  the  same  as  for  a  coat,  only  that  for  the 
coat  the  physical  man  alone  needed  to  be  meas- 
ured, while  for  the  house  the  moral  and  in- 
tellectual nature  should  also  be  surveyed  and 
staked  off.  I  had  seen  a  good  deal  of  this 
custom-made  architecture,  and  had  a  notion 
that  if  a  house  was  simply  fitted  to  a  man's 
nature,  or  rather  to  what  he  thought  his  na- 
ture, he  was  very  apt  to  grow  up  just  to  it, 
never  allowing  his  tastes  or  aspirations  to  get 
outside  of  its  peculiar  conformation.  He  is  very 
likely  to  cramp  his  brain  and  wear  out  his 
soul  by  packing  the  homestead  round  through 
the  world  after  the  manner  of  the  snail.  After 
a  time  it  becomes  absolutely  inseparable  from 
him,  and  when  he  comes  into  your  home  you 
can  see  that  he  is  carrying  his  own  dwelling 
on  his  back.  He  has  trouble  in  getting  it 
through    the    doors  ;     sits    down    on    it    in    the 


140  BLACK  ICE. 

parlor ;  puts  it  on  your  table  when  he  dines 
with  you,  and  actually  carries  it  into  the  li- 
brary and  cushions  your  armchair  with  it  while 
he  smokes  your  tobacco  and  tries  to  feign 
himself  at  ease. 

Our  modern  craze  of  individualism  in  archi- 
tecture is  well  enough  for  the  houses,  but  it  is 
terrible  in  its  effects  on  the  owners.  We  get  so 
that  we  recognize  our  friends  by  their  houses  in- 
stead of  their  countenances.  A.  becomes  the 
man  with  the  brown  house  topped  out  with  two 
stories  of  redwood  shingles,  and  B.  the  man 
with  a  lilac-colored  house,  with  variegated  tile 
stripes,  cochineal  blinds,  olive  trimmings,  and  a 
half-finished  gable.  I  have  an  acquaintance 
whose  eyes  are  getting  to  look  exactly  like  a 
pair  of  dormer  windows  that  constitute  the 
distinctive  feature  of  his  mansion.  If  he  lives 
in  it  a  few  years  more  the  windows  of  his  soul 
will  no  doubt  have  the  same  sort  of  flimsy 
honey-comb  wicker-work  about  their  sides  and 
in  the  corners.  Years  ago  I  had  an  old  friend 
whose  first  home-nest  was  in  a  narrow  city 
block.  The  first  story  front  was  given  up  to 
business,  while  the  third  was  surrendered  to 
lodgers.  It  was  plainly  furnished,  for  though 
keen   and   prosperous   he  was   still   compelled   to 


THE   SCHOOLMA'AM'S  STORY.  141 

be  frugal.  Yet  everybody  counted  it  one  of  the 
most  charming  homes  in  the  city,  and  its  doors 
were  never  opened  without  its  straitened  limits 
being  filled  to  overflowing.  Mark  now  the  sequel. 
Ten  or  twelve  years  afterwards,  grown  rich  and 
past  the  need  of  labor  or  economy,  he  began 
the  building  of  a  spacious  mansion  wdiich  should 
embody  his  ideal  of  a  home.  Everybody  looked 
forward  with  delightful  anticipation  to  the  time 
when  it  should  be  completed  and  opened  to  his 
friends.  He  was  a  royal  good  fellow,  and  his 
wife  the  very  paragon  of  entertainers.  Every- 
body said  to  everybody  else:  "When  Bob's 
house  is  finished  we  shall  know  what  kind  of 
family  mansions  they  have  in  the  kingdom  of 
heaven."  By  and  by  the  house  was  finished,  and 
the  whole  world  invited  to  view  its  splendor.  I 
had  already  seen  it.  Although  I  had  not  been 
within  a  hundred  miles  of  it,  Bob  had  brought 
it  to  me.  I  could  see  that  his  head  was  getting 
to  be  the  exact  shape  of  his  new  library.  The 
shelves  in  his  cranium  were  put  up  in  the  same 
way  as  in  the  library,  and  had  the  same  books 
upon  them,  with  exactly  the  same  bindings. 
The  same  knight  in  tin  armor  stood  beside  the 
doorway  of  his  brain,  and  the  same  sorts  of 
manufactured -to -order     bric-a-brac    were     hung 


142  BLACK  ICE. 

about  the  walls.  The  world  went  to  the  house- 
warming,  and  wondered  why  it  was  that  host 
and  hostess  seemed  to  require  to  be  warmed  up 
too.  For  a  little  while  that  house  was  all  the 
rage.  Then  guests  began  to  shun  its  portals, 
and  its  splendor  was  as  rarely  visited  as  an  art- 
gallery  in  a  city  where  art  happens  not  to  be 
the  fashion.  In  a  year  Bob's  house  came  to  be 
the  terror  of  all  his  friends.  It  has  nearly  killed 
him,  but  he  has  stood  up  to  it  manfully,  and  still 
carries  the  great  mansion  smilingly  around,  quite 
unconscious  that  it  is  crushing  all  individuality, 
manliness,  and  breadth  of  sentiment  out  of  him. 
His  wife,  poor  soul,  died  long  ago— killed  by 
the  new  house.  She  carried  it  about  with  her 
for  three  or  four  years,  but  it  rested  so  heavily 
on  her  bright  sunny  life  that  she  had  to  leave 
its  weighty  splendor  and  go  to  that  fair  land 
where  there  are  many  mansions — none  of  them, 
it  is  hoped,  made  on  the  "especially-adapted" 
plan. 

Having  these  things  in  mind,  I  plucked  up 
courage  and  stoutly  combated  Hester's  precon- 
ceptions. It  is  no  little  thing  to  attempt  to 
push  her  off  a  track  on  which  she  has  once 
started.  Not  that  she  is  at  all  inclined  to  be 
stubborn;    such    an    imputation   would    be    most 


THE   SCHOOLMA'AM'S  STORY.  143 

unjust;  but  she  has  a  multifariousness  of  method 
that  puts  a  simple-minded  man  like  myself  at  a 
great  disadvantage.  She  rarely  offers  any  op- 
position or  attempts  to  refute  my  arguments, 
but  the  first  I  know,  while  I  am  priding  my- 
self upon  the  strength  of  my  position  and 
the  security  of  my  works,  she  makes  a  flank 
movement,  comes  in  with  the  rattle  of  drums 
and  blare  of  trumpets  at  the  rear,  while  I  haul 
down  my  colors  and  surrender  at  discretion.  I 
had  set  my  heart,  however,  on  having  Cragholt 
built  upon  a  broader  principle  than  the  snail- 
shell  mansion  of  to-day;  so  I  told  Hester  that, 
according  to  my  -notion,  a  house  ought  to  be 
made  upon  the  same  plan  as  a  bee-hive — not 
merely  to  fit  the  peculiar  requirements  of  the 
first  swarm,  but  adaptable,  within  reasonable 
limits,  to  the  needs  and  fancies  of  any  colony 
that  might  occupy  it  afterward,  whether  they  had 
exactly  the  same  proportions  of  drones  and  work- 
ers as  had  constituted  the  other  or  not.  I  tried 
to  convince  her,  not  only  that  we  were  unable  to 
define  the  possible  extent  of  our  own  swarm, 
but  utterly  incapable  of  even  guessing  the  pecu- 
liar inclinations  of  its  component  parts.  I  in- 
sisted that  we  had  no  moral  right  inflexibly  to 
apportion    to  ourselves  certain  parts    of  the  hive, 


144  BLACK  ICE. 

according  to  our  present  needs,  and  to  those 
who  might  come  to  share  it  with  us  certain 
other  parts  without  knowledge  of  their  needs. 
I  do  not  think  I  should  ever  have  brought  her 
to  my  way  of  thinking,  however,  if  it  had  not 
been  for  the  library.  This  I  plainly  demon- 
strated to  her  could  not  be  permanently  located 
in  any  part  of  the  house.  This  year  I  might 
w^ant  a  northern  light,  and  next  year  a  southern 
exposure.  To-day  I  might  have  a  notion  to  line 
its  shelves  with  books,  and  to-morrow  to  trans- 
form it  into  a  geological  museum.  At  one  time 
a  foot-lathe  and  work-bench  might  be  among  its 
furniture,  and  at  another  a  small  furnace  cupola 
with  a  formidable  array  of  crucibles  and  test- 
tubes. 

*'  And  you  expect  to  swing  this  variegated 
nondescript  around  the  house,  '  upstairs,  down- 
stairs, and  in  my  lady's  chamber,'  just  as  you 
happen  to  feel  inclined,  I  suppose,"  said  the 
good  woman,  somewhat  tartly. 

''Within  certain  limits,  my  dear,  like  a  mova- 
ble feast." 

"  And  you  expect  the  rest  of  us  to  take  what 
is  left?" 

"Well,  indeed,"  said  I,  somewhat  hesitantly, 
"I    did    not    think    of    it    exactly    in    that    light. 


THE   SCHOOLMA'AM'S  STORY.  145 

Of  course,  I  should  expect  you  to  have  the  same 
liberty." 

"Suppose,  then,  I  should  take  a  fancy  to  one 
room  for  my  parlor,  and  you  should  take  a 
notion  to  it  for  your  workshop,  which  would  it 
be?" 

"  Well,  my  dear,  I  do  not  think  there  could 
be  any  conflict  between  us." 

"  Perhaps  not,"  she  replied  with  a  touch  of 
exultation  in  her  tone.  ''  But  which  do  you 
think  it  ought  to  be  especially  designed  to  ac- 
commodate ?" 

Unconsciously  she  had  given  me  my  cue,  and 
I  blandly  replied:  "Both,  my  dear.  Your  parlor 
should  be  so  planned  as  to  make  a  capital 
workshop,  and  my  library  ought  to  have  pitch 
and  breadth  enough  to  make  an  equally  good 
parlor,  if  you  should  ever  see  fit  to  oust  me 
from  its  possession." 

On  this  basis  we  compromised,  and,  while  not 
forgetting  our  present  needs,  sought  to  shape 
our  house  with  consideration  for  those  who 
might  succeed  us — so  arranging  the  mansion 
which  might  shelter  us  for  a  little  time  that 
almost  any  family  life  might  readily  adapt  itself 
to  its  conformation. 

So   the  library  was  not   really  a   library  at  all. 


146  BLACK  ICE. 

It  had  no  high-pitched,  quaintly-shaped  win- 
dows, and  consequently  none  of  the  dimness  of 
stained  glass  about  it.  It  had  no  purposely 
created  re-entrant  angles,  no  heavy  and  im- 
movable cases,  no  bare  and  massive  beams,  no 
meaningless  mosaics,  no  mullioned  walls  or 
curtained  arches,  and,  above  all,  none  of  the 
meaningless  frippery  of  dilettante  scholarship 
or  amateur  science  about  it.  It  was  a  room — 
or  rather  a  suite  of  rooms,  for  there  were  three 
of  them — designed  for  just  two  purposes — work 
and  play,  labor  and  lounging.  Not  a  thing 
about  it  was  fitted  for  the  show  business. 
Everything  was  solid,  significant  and  useful, 
and  at  the  same  time  commonplace  and  com- 
fortable. In  one  corner  was  an  old  stand-up 
pine  desk,  on  which  I  wrote  all  my  most  eru- 
dite scientific  theses,  and  in  the  intervals  of 
composition  whittled  it  with  my  jack-knife  to 
my  heart's  content.  It  was  the  only  piece  of 
carving  in  the  room;  and  though  it  sometimes 
attracted  no  little  attention,  I  do  not  remem- 
ber anybody  having  been  struck  with  the  fine- 
ness of  the  work.  Sometimes  the  floor  was 
carpeted,  and  then,  again,  it  was  bare.  Some- 
times the  room  was  pretty  nearly  filled  with 
books,  and  anon  literature  retired  into  the  back 


THE   SCHOOLMA'AM'S  STORY.  147 

ground,    and    drills    and    lathes,    blow-pipe    and 
anvil,  came  to  the  front. 

The  world  was  thoroughly  shut  out  of  it.  I 
think,  I  might  have  blown  up  that  end  of  the 
house  with  a  dynamite  bomb  without  occasion- 
ing any  astonishment  to  the  denizens  of  the 
rest  of  the  mansion.  Now  and  then,  when  my 
mood  changed,  the  room  was  rearranged  and 
sometimes  dusted.  Of  desks  and  writing-tables 
there  was  an  assortment  which  came  in  and 
went  out  one  after  another,  as  fancy  inclined 
me.  I  always  like  to  change  my  desks  when 
I  take  up  a  new  idea.  One's  work  gets  located 
on  a  table  devoted  to  a  special  subject.  One  sort 
of  papers  occupy  this  corner,  and  another  that, 
topically  arranged  without  trouble  of  pigeon- 
holes ;  so  that  when  one  wants  an  idea  which 
has  been  once  sorted  out  and  located,  he  has 
only  to  slip  the  loose  mass  of  papers  towards 
him,  and  run  it  over  as  easily  as  he  cons  the 
faces  of  his  friends.  In  twenty-five  years  of 
office  and  field  work  I  do  not  believe  I  ever 
had  a  paper  in  my  hands  that  I  would  not 
recognize  to-day  on  sight,  without  looking  at  the 
indorsement;  and,  to  tell  the  truth,  very  few  of 
them  have  had  any  indorsement.  Red  tape, 
pigeon-holes,  and  all  the    senseless  paraphernalia 


148  BLACK  ICE. 

of  needless  arrangement  and  rearrangement  only- 
bother  and  torment  a  worker  who  knows  what 
he  wants  to  do  and  is  bent  on  doing  it. 

The  walls  of  this  apartment  are  plain,  .orna- 
mented by  a  few  prints  interspersed  with  some 
drawings  in  which  I  have  had  a  professional  in- 
terest. A  few  faces  that  I  love  look  down  upon 
me  from  them.  I  do  not  like  pictures,  nor 
any  striking  ornament,  where  I  have  to  work. 
A  glowing  grate  with  an  old-fashioned  mantel 
above,  and  an  indefinite  number  of  great  deep- 
seated  rocking-chairs,  together  with  one  hard- 
seated,  straight-backed  revolving  chair,  in  which  I 
sit  while  at  work,  constitute  really  the  only  fixed 
characteristics  of  the  room.  They  are  always 
there.  Sometimes  when  I  am  in  a  busy  mood 
the  rocking-chairs  are  reduced  to  two — never 
less  than  that,  for  I  need  one  in  which  to 
lounge  and  smoke  while  waiting  for  ray  thoughts 
to  come,  and  another,  perhaps  for  some  priv- 
ileged friend  who  may  be  allowed  within  the 
barrier,  but  especially  for  the  good  wife  when 
she  comes  for  the  accustomed  chat  before  retir- 
ing. She  sits  absorbed  and  silent  while  I  tell 
her  of  the  day's  work  and  the  morrow's  plans. 
She  never  professes  to  understand  my  work,  but 
all    the   same   she   likes  to  hear  of   it,  and    I    be- 


THE   SCHOOLMA'AM'S  STORY.  149 

lieve  she  would  rather  miss  all  the  rest  of  the 
day  than  that  one  quiet  hour  in  the  workshop. 
I  know  its  condition  often  offends  her  sense  of 
neatness  and  order.  It  sometimes  has  that  effect 
on  others  who  chance  to  get  their  noses  within 
the  door.  I  suppose  it  would  be  the  same  with 
me  if  it  were  not  that  my  sense  of  order  has 
for  its  key-note,  convenience  and  adaptation  to 
results.  I  have  learned  that  I  can  do  more  and 
better  work  with  such  surroundings  than  any 
other;  or  rather,  I  find  that  adjustability  of  sur- 
roundings is  essential  both  to  ease  of  produc- 
tion and  quality  of  work. 

Perhaps  my  profession  is  in  part  answerable 
for  this.  I  have  noticed  that  the  great  Architect 
of  the  universe  combines  the  elements  of  which 
it  is  composed  with  very  little  regard  to  the 
rules  of  taste  or  the  requirements  of  scientific 
classification.  The  ruby  and  the  diamond  are 
not  found  enthroned  in  crystal  or  imbedded  in 
stalactite.  The  various  qualities  of  iron  ore 
are  not  generally  convenientl}^  grouped.  The 
lodes  of  silver  wander  deviously  through  the 
mountain's  heart,  and  the  gold  creeps  into 
crevices  where  worthless  pebbles  hide  its  gleam. 
Confusion  seems  to  be  the  law  of  the  universe, 
absolute    incongruity    the    principle    that    govern 


150  BLACK  ICE. 

the  juxtaposition  of  matter, — until  we  thinK  wnat 
purposes  the  mountains  are  intended  to  sub- 
serve, to  what  use  the  valleys  are  dedicated, 
and  how  exquisitely  the  distribution  of  matter 
is  adapted  to  promote  these  ends.  In  nature 
as  in  life,  however,  are  combined  two  sorts  of 
order  —  the  one  that  of  the  store-house,  the 
other  tliat  of  the  workshop.  The  key  to  the 
one  is  harmony  of  arrangement  and  economy  of 
space ;  the  motive  of  the  other,  convenience 
and  readiness  of  use.  The  woman  whose  house 
is  always  in  order  is  inspired  by  the  instinct 
of  putting  things  away.  The  workman  whose 
bench  is  simply  the  theater  of  accomplishment, 
arranges  his  tools  and  material  only  with  regard 
to  ease  of  application.  Every  now  and  then 
pei-haps  he  gets  ashamed  of  the  apparent  con- 
fusion, "smarts  up"  his  bench,  puts  every  tool 
in  a  specific  place,  brushes  away  the  dust,  picks 
up  his  scraps  and  arranges  his  material — only  to 
throw  it  all  into  like  seeming  confusion  by  the 
next  half-hour's  work. 

Hester  sighs  in  hopeless  agony  as  she  notes 
the  cobwebs  on  the  ceiling,  the  careless  array 
of  pipes  upon  the  mantel,  the  dust  upon  the 
floor,  and  the  uncouth  medley  of  literature, 
science,  and  leisure  all  round.     She  wonders  how 


THE  SCHOOLMA'AM'S  STORY.  151 

I  can  either  work  or  rest  amid  such  confusion. 
Yet  I  notice  that  when  care  or  trouble  comes 
to  her,  nothing  rests  and  restores  her  to  cheer- 
fulness and  hope  like  the  pleasant  fire  and  easy 
chair,  the  quietude  and  hospitality,  of  the  work- 
shop. Yet  she  habitually  speaks  of  it  as  "  hor- 
rid." In  cases  of  extreme  agitation,  as  when 
some  distinguished  visitor  has  been  ushered  into 
it  without  apology,  I  even  seem  to  recall  tlie 
fact  that  she  has  used  the  term  '*  filthy"  in 
connection  with  it.  Bertha,  however,  always 
pronounces  it  ''  lovely,"  and  is  never  so  happy 
as  when  she  can  hide  in  one  of  its  corners 
while  I  work  on  unconscious  of  her  presence. 

None  but  friends  ever  come  into  the  work- 
shop, though  I  think  it  is  due  not  so  much  to 
any  rigid  rule  of  exclusion  as  to  the  charm 
which  this  thoroughly  natural  interior  exercises 
over  the  consciousness  of  one  at  all  capable  of 
appreciating  its  excellences.  Now  and  then, 
upon  very  rare  occasions,  the  door  has  been 
forced  with  kindly  violence,  and  mere  curiosity 
has  thrust  its  querulous,  criticising  nose  within. 
Such  visitors  have  spread  abroad  in  the  village 
strange  tales  of  the  barbarous  uncouthness  of 
the  room  in  which  Percy  Reynolds  does  his  work 
and    takes    his    ease,    and    the    little    company    of 


152  BLACK  ICE. 

friends  who  are  wont  to  invade  its  precincts  are 
so  few  that  it  may  well  be  that  the  young  man 
who  lagged  behind  in  the  parlor  thought  that 
only  dry,  scientific  questions  were  ever  discussed 
within  its  dusty  purlieus.  I  smiled  grimly  to 
myself  as  I  thought  of  this,  and  wondered  if 
even  Allie's  charms  would  have  kept  him  away 
had  he  known  how  young  and  old  meet  upon 
the  level  of  good-fellowship  within  its  walls. 

On  this  occasion,  the  school-mistress,  who  was 
chattering  with  the  other  ladies  just  across  the 
hall,  was  the  first  subject  of  conversation  on  which 
any  of  us  lighted.  I  do  not  know  who  first  men- 
tioned her  name.  Hardly  were  our  cigars  well 
aglow  and  each  friend  comfortably  ensconced  in 
a  great  rocker — I  cannot  help  preferring  the 
straight-backed  working  chair  save  when  I  fall 
into  reverie  all  alone,  or  when  Hester  makes  her 
diurnal  visit — when  some  one  asked  the  doctor 
what  he  knew  about  the  pretty  widow.  I  have 
ahvays  thought  it  was  George  Hartzell  who 
asked  this  question,  though  it  may  have  been 
Twining,  or  in  fact  I  may  have  propounded  the 
inquiry  myself.  At  any  rate,  the  doctor  answered 
in  the  words  I  have  given.  His  reply  was 
greeted  with  looks  of  such  evident  amazement 
that   the    doctor,  glancing   from    one    to   another, 


THE   SCHOOLAIA'AM'S  STORY.  153 

drew  a  long  whiff,  took  his  cigar  from  his 
moutli,  and  fastening  his  keen  eyes  upon  me, 
shook  his  white  forefinger  in  my  direction  and 
said,  as  if  I  had  questioned  his  assertion  : 

"  No,  sir :  I  do  not  know  anything  about 
Helen  Somers,  nor  of  any  story  tliat  may  be 
connected  with  her  life.  I  might  almost  say, 
as  I  did  inadvertently,  that  I  do  not  know  she 
has  any  story  that  would  be  worth  telling  or 
worth  hearing;  but  I  think  that  it  would  not 
be  quite  correct." 

He  shut  his  thin  lips,  turned  the  pointed  beard 
upon  his  chin  towards  one  and  another  of  his 
auditors,  as  if  he  had  propounded  a  riddle  he 
defied  them  to  guess,  or  made  a  declaration  he 
dared  them   to  deny. 

"Which  means,"  said  Hartzell,  "either  that 
you  only  guess  at  what  we  think  you  know,  or 
that  it  is  none  of  our  business  what  you  know 
or  wliat  you  guess." 

A  gleam  of  satisfaction  came  over  the  doctor's 
face  as  he  noted  the  effect  of  his  strategy.  He 
leaned  back  in  the  great  arm-chair,  resting  his 
hand  upon  the  broad  side-piece  as  if  he  held  a 
pencil  and  were  taking  notes  of  an  interesting 
case  ;  raised  his  eyes  meditatively  to  the  cobwebs 
on    the   Ceiling,    again    took   a  whiff  or  two   from 


154  BLACK  ICE. 

his  cigar,  and  then  said,  in  condescending  tones  : 

"  I  see,  boys"— he  very  greatly  enjoyed  calling 
us  "  boys,"  but  I  can  hardly  imagine  what  he  would 
have  done  if  we  had  returned  the  compliment  by 
calling  him  "old  man" — "I  see,  boys,  you  are 
dying  to  know  something  about  our  little  school- 
ma'am;  and  to  tell  you  the  truth,  I'd  give  as  much 
as  any  of  you  to  be  able  to  resolve  the  mys- 
tery that  surrounds  her  life." 

''  If  that  is  the  case,"  I  said,  "  how  do  you  know 
there  is  any  mystery  ?" 

"  How  do  I  know?"  said  the  old  doctor,  flashing 
a  withering  glance  at  me  as  if  to  rebuke  my  stu- 
pidity. "How  do  I  know  anything?  How  do  I 
know  the  difference  between  whooping-cough  and 
measles?  How  do  I  know  black  is  black  and  wdiite 
is  white  ?  How  did  I  know  George  Hartzell  w^as  a 
good  fellow  the  first  time  I  set  eyes  on  him  ?  How 
did  I  know  you  were  making  double-time  tow^ards 
insanity  or  the  grave  the  first  time  I  shook  hands 
with  you  ?  How  do  I  know  that  General  Twin- 
ing, whom  I  never  met  until  to-day,  is  yet  un- 
aware of  his  powers  despite  what  he  has  accom- 
plished ?     How  do  I  know — " 

"How  do  you  know  everything?"  laughed 
George.  "But,  doctor,  we  give  it  up;  we  cannot 
tell." 


THE   SCBOOLMA'AAI'S  STORY.  155 

"What  we  want  to  find  out,"  I  interjected,  "is 
how  you  know  or  why  you  guess  that  Mrs.  Helen 
Somers  has  a  story  worth  hearing." 

"  Don't  talk  about  guessing,  boys,"  said  the  old 
doctor,  with  sudden  seriousness;  "it  hurts  me.  I 
do  not  guess.  No  man  guesses  when  he  reaches 
a  conclusion.  He  may  not  know  how  he  reached 
it.  It  may  flash  upon  him  as  the  lightning  does 
out  of  the  darkness  of  the  cloud  and  the  fury  of 
the  storm.  He  may  not  be  able  to  define  hig 
premises  or  tell  by  what  particular  steps  he  ar- 
rived at  it.  But  there  it  is,  clear  and  sharp  as 
the  line  of  light  that  marks  the  ragged  edges  of 
the  cloud-rift.  He  sees  and  he  knows  by  the  exer- 
cise of  powers  just  as  reliable  in  their  action  as  the 
eye  when  it  traces  the  lightning's  flight." 

"  I  think,  Reynolds,"  he  continued  after  a  mo- 
ment's pause,  "  that  our  profession  are  more  ac- 
customed to  leap  to  conclusions,  as  people  care- 
lessly say,  and  more  given  to  rely  and  act  upon 
such  swiftly-drawn  conclusions,  than  any  other." 

"Would  not  that  be  a  rather  dangerous  doctrine 
to  get  abroad,  doctor?"  said  Twining,  thought- 
fully. 

"Not  at  all,  not  at  all,"  said  the  doctor,  raising 
his  hand  protestingly.  "  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that 
we  are  rash  or  careless,  or  accustomed  to  act  with- 


156  BLACK  ICE. 

out  investigation  and  serious  thought.  I  do  not 
believe  we  are.  As  a  profession,  I  think  we  are 
the  most  cautious  in  the  world.  Only  think  of 
our  responsibilities.  Do  you  ever  see  a  physician 
do  anything  while  in  doubt  t  Not  once  in  a  thou- 
sand times  can  one  be  induced  to  take  a  step  until 
he  has  formed  an  opinion,  right  or  wrong,  of  the 
nature  of  the  malady  he  has  to  deal  with,  of  the 
habits,  character,  and  constitution  of  his  patient, 
and  what  remedy,  considering  all  these  things,  is 
most  likely  to  produce  beneficent  results.  What  I 
mean  to  say  is,  that  we  get  in  the  habit  of  doing 
all  this,  passing  through  all  these  intellectual  pro- 
cesses, in  an  instant,  "  quicker  than  a  flash,"  as  the 
boys  say.  For  instance,  General,  suppose  you 
were  brought  to  me  out  of  the  heat  of  battle  with, 
say,  a  wound  here  in  the  shoulder.  I  had  known 
nothing  of  you  before — never  heard  your  name, 
knew  nothing  of  your  character,  your  constitution, 
temperament,  or  habits.  From  the  apparent  direc- 
tion of  the  wound  I  might  infer  that  the  shot  had 
passed  backward  and  downward;  that  it  might  be 
found  under  the  clavicle;  that  it  might  be  lodged 
in  the  shoulder;  that  it  was  possible  it  might  be 
in  the  lungs,  or  even  have  fallen,  spent  and 
dead,  in  the  thoracic  cavity.  All  this  I  should 
note   in    an    instant.     But    suppose  that,  glancing 


THE   SCHOOLMA'AM'S  STORY.  157 

into  5^our  face,  I  saw  there  care,  anxiety,  fear; 
twitching  muscles,  restless  eyes  and  relaxed  mouth; 
and  perceived  that  your  breath  came  quick  and 
gaspingly,  though  apparently  free  and  unob- 
structed. Do  you  know  what  I  would  think  and 
what  I   should  know?" 

"I  haven't  the  least  idea,  doctor,"  answered 
Twining. 

"That  he  was  more  scared  than  hurt,  probably," 
said  Hartzell,  mischievously. 

"  Not  a  bit,  sir,"  said  the  doctor,  impetuously. 
*'  I  should  see  the  straps  on  his  shoulders,  note 
the  lines  of  mouth  and  brow,  and  know,  with- 
out requiring  to  be  told,  that  he  was  a  brave 
man." 

"  Good  !  good  !"  shouted  Hartzell.  "  You're 
in  luck,  Twining.  Not  many  people  get  such 
a  compliment  from   Dr.  Colton." 

''  I'm  sure  I  am  very  much  obliged,"  said  Twin- 
ing, modestly. 

'•'  It  was  only  by  way  of  illustration,"  said  the 
doctor,  half-apologetically,  "  though  I  do  not  know 
as  I  should  want  to  go  back  on  it  as  a  matter  of 
diagnosis.  But  as  I  was  saying,  I  should  know 
from  these  things  that  my  patient  was  a  brave 
man,  and  would  not  be  unnerved  by  the  mere  pain 
of    the   wound,    or   fear   of    death.     So    I    should 


158  BLACK  ICE. 

say  at  once  that  the  bullet  was  not  in  the  lungs, 
nor  in  the  thorax,  nor  hidden  beneath  the  clavicle. 
I  should  be  sure  that  it  had  made  the  circuit  of 
the  cavity  and  touched  the  heart,  or  struck  an 
artery  very  near  that  organ.  I  suppose  all  this 
would  pass  through  my  mind  in  a  second,  and  I 
should  never  know  that  I  had  thought  at  all.  One 
might  say  that  I  had  leaped  to  a  conclusion,  but  it 
would  not  be  a  guess  by  any  means." 

"  From  which  I  suppose  we  are  to  infer,"  I  said, 
"■  that  you  have  '  leaped  to  a  conclusion  '  in  this 
way  with  regard  to  Mrs.  Som.ers  and  the  story  she 
might  tell  if  she  were  asked." 

"  The  story  she  will  tell,  whether  asked  or  not,  if 
it  ever  becomes  necessary  ;  and  will  never  tell  until 
it  does,  whether  asked  or  not,"  asserted  the  doctor. 
"  Well,  yes  ;  I  suppose  I  leaped  to  a  conclusion 
on  this  subject  in  the  manner  I  have  described, 
though  I  was  not  conscious  of  that  fact  until  two 
or  three  years  afterwards." 

"You  have  known  her  for  some  time?"  I  sug- 
gested cautiously. 

"  I  had  met  her  twice  before  she  came  to  the  vil- 
lage," said  the  doctor,  as  he  thoughtfully  scanned 
the  cobwebs. 

"You  knew  her  family,  perhaps?"  I  suggested. 

"  Never  heard  of  them.     Do  not  know  that  she 


THE   SCHOOLMA'AM'S  STORY.  159 

ever  had  any,  except  in  the  same  way  that  I  know 
she  has  a  history." 

"  H'm  !  h'm  !"  I  ejaculated  in  surprise. 

George  Hartzell  whistled.  Twining  said  noth- 
ing,— only  looked  gravely  at  the  fire. 

''  Your  knowledge  of  her  was  derived  from  others, 
then  ?"  I  ventured,  after  a  moment's  silence. 

"  Never  heard  her  name  mentioned  in  my  life 
until  about  the  time  she  came  into  the  school  here, 
and  never  had  any  acquaintance  with  any  one  who 
knew  more  about  her  than  I  do." 

"Well,  I  vow !"  exclaimed  Hartzell.  This  time 
it  was  my  turn  to  whistle.  Twining  remained 
silent. 

^'  I  thought,"  I  said  hesitatingly — *'  I  am  sure  I 
have  always  heard  that — that  you  recommended 
her  for  a  position  in  the  village  school." 

"No  doubt!  no  doubt!"  said  the  doctor.  "I 
did  it,  anyhow,  whether  you  heard  of  it  or  not." 

"Well — how — why — "  I  began  confusedly. 

"  I  suppose  you  wish  to  ask  how  I  came  to  do 
so  ?"  said  the  doctor,  coolly. 

"  Exactly  !  That's  just  it,"  I  answered  with 
some  positiveness,  as  I  recovered  from  my  sur- 
prise. 

**Well,  I  will  tell  you,"  said  tlie  doctor,  "not 
only  why  I  did  it,  but  all   I  know  about  her.      You 


160  BLACK  ICE. 

know  I  have  always  been  keenly  interested  in  our 
public  schools,  and  have  a  notion  that  something 
more  than  mere  knowledge  is  required  to  make  a 
good  teacher.  As  I  say,  I  had  seen  Mrs.  Somers 
twice.  At  our  first  meeting  I  was  convinced  of 
two  things:  first,  that  she  was  a  most  remark- 
able woman,  and  could  do  what  very  few  women, 
or  men  either,  would  dare  attempt  ;  second, 
that  she  had  met  with  some  great  sorrow,  or 
suffered  some  great  wrong — possibly  both.  I  was 
so  lost  in  admiration  of  her  conduct,  however,  that, 
as  I  said,  I  never  thought  of  these  things  until 
about  two  years  afterward.  Then  I  saw  her  again, 
and  studied  her  somewhat  more  leisurely.  In 
the  light  of  what  I  already  knew,  my  previous  im- 
pressions were  more  than  confirmed.  On  this  oc- 
casion I  learned  two  more  things  about  her. 
First,  that  no  purer  or  gentler  woman  ever  lived." 

The  doctor  spoke  solemnly,  and  each  one  of  us 
drew  a  long  breath  of  relief. 

"Secondly,"  continued  the  doctor,  ''that  she 
was  the  best  teacher  I  had  ever  seen.  Happening 
to  hear  of  the  vacancy  in  the  school  soon  after,  I 
went  before  the  Board  and  told  them  what  I 
thought  about  her  as  a  teacher.  Having  some 
confidence  in  my  judgment,  they  acted  on  it. 

"And  that  is  how  she  came  to  Gladesboro,  and 
all  I  know  about  her  antecedents." 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

SADDLE-BAGS    TO    THE    RESCUE  ! 

'  I  ^HE  doctor  paused  a  moment  to  note  the  ef- 
fects of  his  declaration,  gazing  from  one  to 
another,  his  eyes  twinkling  with  mirth. 

"After  all,"  he  said  when  he  had  sufficiently  en- 
joyed our  consternation,"!  learned  a  good  deal 
about  the  little  lady  in  those  two  interviews.  I 
doubt  if  ever  a  newspaper  reporter  came  as  near 
getting  the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but 
the  truth  out  of  one  of  his  victims  as  I  did  to 
learning  the  story  of  Helen  Somers,  without  ask- 
ing her  a  question  or  exchanging  a  dozen  sen- 
tences with  her — in  fact,  without  thinking  a  word 
about  her  past  or  future,  but  only  observing  her 
sufficiency  for  the  present.  She  made  an  impres- 
sion on  me  the  first  time  I  saw  her  that  I  shall 
never  get  over.  I  think  I  would  do  battle  for  her, 
actually  or  metaphorically,  just  as  willingly  as  for 
one  of  my  own  children;  and  I  am  not  sure  that  I 
would  not  go  about  as  far  in   the  sacrifice   of  time 

and  fortune  in  her  behalf  as  for  one   of  them.     It 
II 


162  BLACK  ICE. 

was  that  summer  when  the  excursion-boat  blew 
up  at  Dwight's  Landing,  ten  miles  below  here. 
You  remember  it,  Reynolds?" 

"  I  remember  hearing  about  it,"  I  responded.  "  I 
was  not  at  home  at  the  time." 

''  A  bad  thing,"  said  the  doctor,  paying  no  atten- 
tion to  my  remark.  "  A  bad  thing  !  About  the 
worst  I  ever  knew.  I  have  seen  a  good  many 
hard  things,  too,  in  forty-odd  years'  practice.  I 
was  upon  the  battle-field  more  than  once,  Gen- 
eral," nodding  toward  Twining, — "  or  rather  in 
the  rear  of  it,  as  a  surgeon  always  is,  and  where, 
I  take  it,  the  pain  and  horror  of  the  battle  are 
really  concentrated." 

''  Indeed  !"  said  Twining,  looking  at  him  with 
interest.     "  I  had  no  idea  you  were  in  the  service." 

*'  In  the  service  ?"  said  the  old  man.  ''  No,  indeed. 
I  hardly  know  why  I  was  not,  either.  I  was  not 
so  old  then  but  that  I  might  have  served  if  there 
had  been  need  of  it.  I  suppose  that  was  the  real 
reason.  There  was  no  necessity  for  a  draft  to  fill 
the  medical  staff.  Besides  that,  I  was  responsible 
in  a  certain  degree  for  the  health  of  this  little  re- 
gion about  Gladesboro.  At  that  time  the  village 
was  hardly  worth  notice,  and  I  do  not  think  there 
was  another  physician  within  six  or  eight  miles. 
One   moved  in  soon   after  the  war  began,  but  he 


SADDLE-BAGS   TO    THE  RESCUE!  163 

wasn't  of  much  account,  and  it  was  not  until  the 
war  was  over  that  this  young  Dr.  Parsons  came, 
who  is  gradually  relieving  me  of  my  practice  and 
opening  the  way  for  me  to  retire  from  business 
entirely.  I  am  glad  to  let  him  have  it,  too.  It  is 
getting  a  little  heavy  for  me,  and  he  is  not  only  a 
good  fellow,  but  a  sound-headed  man  who  will  be 
a  credit  to  his  profession  when  he  gets  a  little 
older. 

"As  I  was  saying,  though  I  was  not  in  the  ser- 
vice, I  went  more  than  once  as  a  volunteer  to  help 
care  for  the  wounded  after  some  great  battle. 
You  see  I  had  a  couple  of  boys  in  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  myself,  and  so  was  naturally  interested 
in  being  around  when  they  were  engaged,  though 
of  course  the  chances  were  only  one  in  a  million 
that  they  would  fall  in  my  way  if  they  were 
wounded.  Whenever  there  was  a  battle  expected, 
however,  I  used  to  grow  restless,  and  if  the  condi- 
tion of  affairs  at  home  was  such  that  I  could  leave, 
and  I  could  get  some  friend  to  look  after  my  pa- 
tients for  a  few  days,  I  used  to  take  a  trip  to  the 
hospitals,  as  I  told  Harriet,  by  way  of  recreation. 
She  did  not  quite  approve  the  jest,  nor  understand 
how  it  could  be  a  recreation.  Yet  there  is  nothing 
better  for  a  man  of  our  profession  than  to  drop 
out  of  his   own   round  of  practice  and  visit  for  a 


164  ,/     BLACK  ICE. 

time  some  of  those  centers  where  the  extraordi- 
nary phases  of  medical  and  surgical  practice  are 
developed.  It  is  a  new  field  of  observation  for 
him,  and  I  defy  a  country  physician  to  be  a  week 
or  ten  days  in  an  army  hospital  without  going 
home,  not  merely  instructed  by  what  he  has  seen, 
but  inspired  and  invigorated  thereby.  You  see,  a 
thousand  things  cross  his  path  that  awaken  inter- 
est and  curiosity,  and  supply  him  with  subject- 
matter  for  recreative  thought  for  months  after- 
ward. Of  course  at  the  time  he  is  harrowed  and 
distressed,  and  in  a  sense  overwhelmed,  by  the 
shock  of  aggregated  suffering  and  the  unceasing 
demand  for  difficult  and  exhausting  work." 

"I  can  well  understand  that,"  said  Twining.  "  I 
think  I  have  suffered  more  myself,  when  under 
treatment  in  the  hospital,  from  witnessing  the  suf- 
fering of  others  than  from  the  pain  I  experienced." 

"No  doubt,"  said  the  doctor;  "I  think  that  is 
often  the  case.  But,  as  I  was  saying,  I  never  saw 
anything  in  the  field-hospital  at  all  to  compare 
with  the  horrors  of  that  explosion.  You  see,  the 
boat  was  a  miserable  old  tub  at  best,  and  was 
loaded  down  to  the  water's  edge  with  excursionists, 
men,  women,  and  children,  though  there  were  more 
women  and  children  than  men,  as  is  nearly  always 
the  case  with  such  crowds.     They  had  just  pulled 


SADDLE-BAGS   TO    THE  RESCUE!  165 

up  to  the  little  wharf  at  Dwight's — I  never  could 
understand  why,  unless  it  was  to  select  the  most 
inconvenient  spot  upon  the  river  for  an  accident. 
At  that  time  it  was  perfectly  desolate  about  the 
landing.  A  shackling,  crazy  little  old  dock  built 
on  worm-eaten  piles,  hardly  safe  for  a  rat  to  run 
over,  stretched  out  into  a  little  cove.  The  banks 
of  the  river  come  sheer  down  to  the  water  a 
few  rods  below,  and  for  half  a  mile  above  there 
is  hardly  room  for  a  road  beside  the  river.  A 
little  stream  puts  in  just  at  the  head  of  the  cove, 
coming  down  between  the  hills  for  ten  or  fifteen 
miles.  There  are  a  few  farm-houses  on  its  banks, 
but  its  chief  use  is  to  furnish  opportunity  for  a 
roadway  by  which  the  country  people  bring  their 
produce  to  the  wharf  for  shipment.  Before  the 
railroads  were  built,  of  course  quite  a  scope  of 
back  country  found  its  outlet  here,  and  at  that 
time  there  were  perhaps  a  dozen  houses  at  the 
Landing,  occupied  by  people  who  were  connected 
in  one  way  or  another  with  boating.  All  but 
two  or  three  of  these  had  disappeared  years  be- 
fore. Very  fortunately,  however,  the  ruins  of  an 
old  warehouse  and  a  big  barn  remained,  lonely 
but  useful  relics  of  a  former  era. 

"I   had   been  to  see  a  patient   in  the  neighbor- 
hood, a  mile  or  such  a  matter  up  the  creek  road. 


166  BLACK  ICE. 

It  was  the  latter  part  of  June,  and  the  day  as  still 
and  bright  as  one  ever  sees.     I  was  perhaps  half 
a  mile   from   the  Landing,  intending    to  take    the 
river-road   home,  and  was   watching  the  sky   that 
showed    at    intervals    before   me,    thinking   I   had 
never  seen  it  of  a  deeper,  clearer  blue.     All  at  once 
I  heard  a  dull,  heavy  thud,  as  if  some  foreign  sub- 
stance   of    immense  weight    had    dropped    on    the 
planet  somewhere  in  that  vicinity.    After  a  moment 
there  suddenly  appeared  on   the   horizon  a  white, 
fluffy  mass,  looking  as  if  a  few  thousand   fleeces  of 
wool  had  been  shot   toward  the  zenith.     I   knew 
what    it  was  in  an   instant,  and    the    professional 
instinct    sent    me    whirling    toward     the    Landing 
as    rapidly    as    Hannibal    could    take    me,    before 
the  rumble  of  the  explosion  w^as  well  over.     Han- 
nibal   was    a    colt  then,    Reynolds,   and  I  think  I 
hardly  appreciated  what  the  sleepy-looking  brown 
rascal  could  do,  until  that  day.     I  got  a  great  re- 
spect for  him  then,  and  haven't  altogether  lost  it 
since." 

The  doctor  threw  me  a  satisfied  glance  as  he 
spoke.  We  all  knew  his  weakness  for  the  animal 
in  question,  and  the  pride  he  took  in  his  own 
horsemanship. 

"I  should  think  noti"  I  answered,  in  a  tone  of 
appreciation  which  horse  and  master  well  merited. 


SADDLE-BAGS   TO    THE  RESCUE!  167 

**He  was  not  long  in  taking  me  down  to  the 
Landing,  that's  certain.  But  short  as  the  road  was, 
I  pictured  the  whole  scene  in  my  mind  before 
reaching  the  bend,  and  determined  what  must  be 
done  in  case  it  should  prove  as  I  feared,  one  of 
those  overloaded  excursion-boats,  and  there  should 
be  many  injured.  As  I  came  round  the  foot  of  the 
hill  I  beheld  a  scene  of  confusion  that  I  have  never 
seen  paralleled.  The  steamer  was  lying  at  the 
dock,  a  perfect  wreck,  her  head  rapidly  sinking.  I 
suppose  the  water  where  she  lay  must  have  been 
twelve  or  fifteen  feet  deep.  Steam  was  still  rising 
above  her  decks,  and  the  water  for  a  hundred  feet 
around  seemed  alive  with  struggling  humanity. 
The  wreck,  the  wharf,  the  shore,  and  the  roadway 
above  were  covered  with  human  beings,  running, 
walking,  crawling,  groaning,  shrieking,  in  the  wild- 
est confusion.  Almost  every  one  was  looking  out 
for  himself  ;  and  those  who  had  recovered  their 
self-control  enough  to  help  others  had  not  had  time 
to  perfect  any  system  of  co-operation,  or  indeed  to 
act  with  coolness  and  efficiency  as  individuals.  It 
was  evident  that  there  had  been  a  great  slaughter, 
and  that  there  must  be  a  great  number  of  half- 
drowned,  maimed,  and  scalded  wretches  to  care 
for. 

"I  saw  at  once  that  my  first  duty  would  be  to 


168  BLACK  ICE. 

transform  the  terrified  crowd  into  an  efficient  and 
self-controlling  company  of  rescuers;  but  I  knew 
that  an  immense  amount  of  surgical  work  would 
have  to  be  done,  and  that  I  could  not  long  give 
my  sole  attention  to  the  matter  of  rescuing  the 
wounded  and  drowning. 

"I  never  felt  quite  so  helpless  as  when  I  stood 
in  the  presence  of  that  great  calamity  and  realized 
that  I  was  alone  with  only  a  pocket-case  of  instru- 
ments, the  ordinary  equipment  of  a  country  doc- 
tor's saddle-bags,  and  not  even  a  vial  of  sweet-oil 
nearer  than  a  mile,  and  across  the  river  at  that. 
Fortunately  one  of  the  first  men  my  eye  fell  upon 
was  Jacob  Stohl,  one  of  the  residents  of  the  Landing, 
a  slender,  gray-whiskered  man,  who  had  been  a  pa- 
tient of  mine  for  years,  afflicted  with  one  of  those 
incurable  maladies  which  never  kill.  He  was  a 
stanch,  reliable  man  whom  I  could  trust  to  do  ex- 
actly as  I  directed,  though  he  was  so  thoroughly 
overcome  by  the  magnitude  of  the  disaster  that 
without  direction  he  would  have  done  nothing. 
One  or  two  of  the  other  denizens  of  the  Landing, 
with  the  ready  instinct  of  the  '  river-rats,'  were  al- 
ready helping  those  in  the  water.  Stohl  w^as  stand- 
ing bareheaded  in  his  gateway,  gazing  in  helpless 
horror  at  the  scene  before  him.  I  knew  if  I  could 
once  get  his  mind  away  from  that  and  let  him  un- 


SADDLE-BAGS    TO    THE  RESCUE!  169 

derstand  that  he  was  to  obey  me,  there  could  be 
no  more  faithful  and  efficient  helper.  He  was  not 
able  to  do  much  in  the  way  of  relieving  the  in- 
jured, but  he  had  been  a  horse-trainer  in  his  time, 
and  could  do  what  was  quite  as  necessary  to  be 
done  just  then — drive  a  horse  and  remember  what 
he  was  told.  I  pulled  up  beside  the  old  man,  and 
called  his  attention  by  a  sharp  stroke  of  the  whip 
over  his  shoulders.  He  was  in  his  shirt-sleeves, 
and  used  to  show  the  mark  of  that  cut  for  a  week 
afterward  So  terrified  was  he  at  the  time,  how- 
ever, that  he  hardly  shrunk  beneath  the  blow.  As 
he  turned  his  face  toward  me,  I  saw  that  it  was  of 
an  ashen  hue,  his  eyes  distended  and  lips  quiver- 
ing with  terror. 

"'Is  it  you,  doctor?'  he  gasped.  'Thank 
God  !' 

"  '  See  here,  Jake,'  said  I,  jumping  down  from  the 
buggy  and  pulling  out  my  saddle-bags,  'there  is 
no  time  for  you  to  stand  here  gaping.' 

He  shut  his  mouth  as  if  it  had  been  a  steel  trap, 
and  fastened  his  eyes  inquiringly  upon  me.  I  laid 
my  hand  upon  his  shoulder. 

"  *  You  see  that,'  I  said,  pointing  to  the  wreck 
and  the  people  struggling  in  the  water. 

"  '  See  ! '  he  exclaimed.     '  O,  doctor  !  I— I—' 

•^ '  Not  a  word  of  that,  Jake  Stoiil,'  said  I  ;  '  you 


170  BLACK  ICE. 

can  help  them.  You  have  something  better  to  do 
than  stand  here  whining  like  a  baby.' 

**The  taunt  stung  worse  than  the  whip.  'What 
can  I  do  ? '  he  cried,  grasping  my  arm  eagerly, 
though  his  hand  trembled. 

"  *  You  can  drive  a  horse,  can't  you  ?  * 

"*  Yes,  that  I  can  ;'  he  said,  with  a  quick  look  of 
intelligence.     '  Let  me  get  my  hat.' 

"'O,  hang  your  hat  !  What  do  you  want  of  a 
hat  ?  Here,  take  mine.'  I  jammed  my  old  hat  on 
his  head  as  I  spoke.  It  was  well  I  did  so,  for  it 
not  only  served  to  enforce  my  words,  but  I  think 
the  fact  that  I  was  bareheaded  helped  me  to  ac- 
complish what  I  did  that  day.  Before  he  well 
knew  what  he  was  doing,  Jake  was  sitting  in  my 
buggy  with  the  reins  in  his  hands. 

"'Give  me    that  whip,'  said  he,  reaching  for  it. 

"'No,'  said  I,  'that  colt  don't  need  any  whip, 
and  you  are  in  no  mood  to  handle  one.' 

"  '  I  guess  you're  right,  doctor,'  said  the  old 
man,  growing  every  instant  calmer  and  more  self- 
possessed.     '  What  shall  I  do  ? ' 

"  '  Ah  !  That's  right,  Jake,'  said  I,  encouragingly. 
'You  do  just  as  I  tell  you.  Don't  forget  a  thing, 
and  especially  don't  hurry.  If  you  attempt  to 
drive  that  horse  fast — as  fast  as  you  would  like 
to,  I  mean — you  will  break  him  down  the  first  mile. 


SADDLE-BAGS   TO    THE  RESCUE!  171 

Now  drive  steadily.  Take  the  river-road  to 
Gladesboro.  Keep  the  colt  to  his  work,  but  don't 
press  him.     You  know  where  Spring's  Ferry  is  ? ' 

"'Yes.' 

*' '  When  you  get  there,  send  some  one  across  the 
river  to  Dr.  Sprague.  Tell  him  an  excursion-boat 
has  been  blown  up  here.  He  must  come  at  once, 
bring  everything  necessary,  and  send  to  every  doc- 
tor up  and  down  the  river  on  that  side.' 

"'All  right!'  said  Stohl. 

"  '  Then  get  yourself  a  drink  of  whiskey.  You 
will  need  it  by  that  time.     Do  you  understand  ?' 

'"  Yes.' 

"'Drive  over  to  Medford.  Tell  Dr.  Harris  the 
same  thing,  and  have  him  bring  everybody  in  town 
to  help.  Don't  wait  a  minute  there,  but  take  the 
mill-road  across  to  Gladesboro.  It  is  two  miles 
further,  but  will  bring  another  good  man.  Tell 
Raines,  the  druggist,  to  pack  up  sweet-oil,  cotton, 
morphine,  chloroform — everything  necessary  for 
burns  and  wounds — take  a  span  of  horses  and 
come  here  at  a  dead  run.  Tell  him  not  to  spare 
the  horses  ;  I'll  pay  for  them.  Do  you  under- 
stand ?' 

'"AH  right.     Good-bye.' 

"Jake  was  turning  round  to  start  when  I  said  : 

** '  Hold  on  !  When  you  have  done  that,  drive  to 


172  BLACK  ICE. 

my  house  and  instruct  my  man  as  to  his  care  of 
the  colt,  if  you  don't  kill  him  before  you  get  there  ; 
tell  my  son  George  to  pack  up  whatever  his  mother 
thinks  may  be  useful,  and  come  here  as  fast  as  the 
gray  mare  can  bring  him.  Come  with  him  if  you 
choose,  though  you  had  better  stay  there.' 

"  'AH  right,'  said  the  old  man  ;  and  I  could  see 
that  he  thoroughly  understood  my  errand,  and, 
knowing  him  as  I  did,  felt  sure  that  he  would  per- 
form it  well.  Besides  I  had  put  him  on  his  mettle 
as  a  horseman,  which  was  sure  to  act  as  a  balance- 
wheel  to  one  of  his  training. 

*' I  do  not  suppose  this  conversation  had  occupied 
a  minute,  or  hardly  more  ;  but  I  recollect  notic- 
ing, as  he  turned  the  buggy  and  started  down  the 
road  toward  the  little  run,  that  Jake's  hand  was 
steady,  and  that  the  colt  was  likely  to  do  good 
work  under  his  management.  I  felt  glad  of  it,  for 
seconds  meant  lives,  and  everything  depended  on 
the  bottom  of  that  colt.  Jake  himself  was  not 
very  well,  which  was  the  reason  I  had  directed 
him  to  get  a  drink  of  whiskey  at  Spring's.  I  was 
sure  he  would  forget  himself  unless  especially 
directed  to  brace  up  at  that  point. 

"I  kept  the  whip  in  my  hand,  and  started 
across  4;he  road  toward  the  head  of  the  little  pier, 
holding  it  as  firmly  as  if  it  had  been  a  sword,  and 


SADDLE-BAGS   TO    THE  RESCUE!  173 

feeling,  I  suppose,  very  much  as  if  it  were  a  scep- 
ter. I  knew  that  somebody  must  make  an  impres- 
sion on  that  mass  of  confused,  demoralized  human- 
ity which  would  compel  it  to  obey.  Any  head 
is  better  than  none  at  such  a  time.  As  long  as 
there  is  no  controlling  will  there  are  sure  to  be  a 
thousand  conflicting  ones.  A  hundred  brave  and 
efficient  men  will  strive  in  vain,  without  direction 
and  control,  to  accomplish  what  ten  of  them  would 
do  with  ease  under  efficient  leadership.  I  have 
always  thought  it  must  be  a  comparatively  easy 
thing  to  lead  an  army,  because  the  emblems  of 
rank  indicate  the  right  to  command,  and  the  de- 
moralized man  is  rarely  inclined  to  dispute  au- 
thority. Neither  does  it  require  any  remarkable 
power  in  a  man  to  lead  a  mob,  if  the  mob 
knows  him  and  is  looking  to  him  for  direction. 
But  the  hardest  job  I  ever  undertook,  and  the  one 
in  which  I  expected  to  be  the  least  successful,  was 
the  management  of  that  mob — turning  it  back 
upon  itself  and  making  it  an  efficient  instrument 
in  the  salvation  and  relief  of  the  scores  of  injured 
and  helpless  victims.  Already  some  of  the  strong- 
est among  them  were  climbing  the  bank  in  the 
rear  of  the  houses,  impelled  by  a  blind  instinct  to 
get  beyond  the  reach  of  danger.  Only  a  few  were 
making  any  effort  to  relieve  those  who  had  jumped 


174  BLACK  ICE. 

overboard  and  were  struggling  in  the  water,  or  for 
rescuing  the  wounded  on  board  the  steamer. 

''Fortunately  for  me,  the  opportunity  which  I 
needed  most  of  all  things,  though  I  did  not  know 
it  then,  or  at  least  did  not  realize  it,  came  to  me 
before  I  reached  the  pier.  A  great  strapping  fel- 
low in  his  shirt-sleeves,  and  wearing  a  silk  hat, 
came  rushing  up  the  path  directly  in  front  of  me, 
bellowing  like  a  mad  bull.  I  am  pretty  hot-tem- 
pered, as  all  my  friends  know,  but  nothing  rouses 
me  to  an  absolute  frenzy  of  madness  like  an  exhi- 
bition of  cowardice.  I  saw  in  an  instant  that  the 
fellow  was  not  hurt,  only  frightened  half  out  of 
his  wits,  and  halted  him  with  a  voice  of  authority 
that  even  in  his  frenzied  condition  made  some 
impression  on   his  sensorium. 

*'  *  Where  are  you  going  ? '  I  asked  imperiously. 

•' '  Oh  Lord!  Oh  Lord! '  he  panted.  *  Don't  stop 
me!  My  God!  don't  stop  me!  '  He  tried  to  pass 
as  he  spoke,  but  I  stepped  squarely  in  front  of 
him  and  ordered  him  to  go  back  and  help  bring 
out  those  who  were  injured. 

'"  Oh  dear!  sir,'  he  said,  *I  can't  go  back  there. 
There  will  be  another  blow-up  in  a  minute.  Only 
one  boiler  exploded,  and  there's  two  of  'em! ' 

"Again  he  tried  to  press  by  me,  but  I  ordered  him 
back  and  enforced  my  commands  by  applying  the 


SADDLE-BAGS    TO    THE  RESCUE!  175 

whip  with  unsparing  severity  over  his  head  and 
shoulders.  Pain  often  overcomes  terror,  and  be- 
fore I  had  struck  half  a  dozen  blows  this  gigantic 
fellow  was  reduced  to  a  condition  of  absolute  obe- 
dience, and  was  actually  begging  me  to  tell  him 
what  to  do.  I  pointed  to  a  pile  of  lumber  beside 
one  of  tlie  houses,  and  told  him  to  carry  it  down 
to  the  water's  edge  and  throw  it  off  for  the  assist- 
ance of  those  who  were  struggling  in  the  water. 
A  score  of  men  who  seemed  only  to  have  been 
waiting  to  be  told  what  to  do,  instantly  volun- 
teered to  help  in  the  work. 

Passing  down  the  little  wharf  I  met  a  firm- 
faced,  clean-jawed  man,  who  was  assisting  an- 
other in  bringing  off  one  who  was  terribly  injured. 

"  *  Where  shall  we  take  him  ? '  he  asked  as  I  ap- 
proached. 

'^  *  Relative  of  yours  ? '  was  my  answer 

"'No.' 

An  acquaintance?* 

'''No.' 

Here,'  said  I,  speaking  to  one  who  stood  near, 
*  take  this  man's  place.  Carry  that  man  over 
yonder,'  pointing  to  the  old  warehouse,  'and  put 
liim  in  as  comfortable  a  place  as  you  can  find,  and 
then  come  back  for  more.' 

" '  Now,'  said  I  to  the  man  who  had  addressed 


176  BLACK  ICE, 

me,  'you  take  charge  of  getting  the  wounded 
off  that  boat.  If  anybody  disputes  or  questions 
your  authority,  knock  him  down.  Stand  there  at 
the  gang-plank  and  see  that  parties  do  not  inter- 
fere with  each  other  coming  and  going,  and  that 
the  scalded  and  maimed  are  brought  out  as  ra- 
pidly as  possible.  The  boat  will  sink  in  a  few 
minutes.' 

"'All  right,  sir,' he  replied.  And  picking  up  a 
piece  of  the  guards  that  had  fallen  near  where  he 
stood,  he  stationed  himself  as  I  directed.  He  was 
a  man  who  could  be  trusted  not  only  to  obey,  but 
to  enforce  obedience. 

"I  wanted  one  more  assistant,  and  that  one  I 
found  in  a  great  hulking  young  fellow  whose  eyes, 
full  of  horrified  pity,  met  mine  as  he  came  up  on 
the  wharf  with  an  injured  child  in  his  arms.  He 
brought  her  toward  me,  no  doubt  judging  from 
the  saddlebags  which  were  upon  my  arm  that  I 
was  a  physician.  I  shook  my  head  as  he  drew 
near,  saying: 

"'Don't  bring  her  here.  I  can't  look  at  her 
now.' 

'"  What  shall  I  do  with  her?'  he  asked.  '  There 
are  others  that  must  be  helped.' 

"'Right,'  said  I.  'Give  her  to  some  one  to 
carry  to  the  warehouse    yonder.     Then    take  this 


SADDLE-BAGS    TO    THE  RESCUE!  177 

whip,  and  go  among  those  cowards  that  are 
running  away,  and  drive  every  one  of  them  back 
here  to  assist  in  saving  these  people.  Don't  be 
afraid  to  use  it.' 

"  I  saw  the  fire  in  his  eyes  as  his  great  fist  closed 
over  the  stock,  and  knew  that  the  able-bodied  men 
and  women  who  had  run  away  from  their  suffering 
fellows  would  soon  be  clamoring  to  assist  in  the 
work  of  rescuing  them.  I  was  not  mistaken.  The 
whip,  after  all,  is  the  best  weapon  for  slaves  and 
cowards.  I  do  not  know  that  he  struck  one  of  the 
fugitives,  but  they  knew  he  would  if  they  did  not 
obey. 

''  Already  the  natural  process  of  crystallization 
which  quickly  affects  such  masses  of  humanity  had 
established  little  centres  of  activity.  A  young 
fellow  who  had  thrown  off  his  clothes  and  jumped 
into  the  water  had  brought  a  half-dozen  drown- 
ing wretches  up  to  the  wharf,  where  others  stood 
ready  to  take  them  immediately  to  the  warehouse 
and  barn.  A  man  with  one  side  of  his  face  burned 
to  a  blister  by  the  escaping  steam  was  directing 
the  removal  of  others  from  the  boat.  A  cool- 
headed  fellow,  whom  I  afterward  found  to  be  the 
mate,  had  torn  down  a  canvas  awning,  fastened 
ropes  to  the  corners,  and  by  the  aid  of  two  or  three 
others  whom  he  had  compelled  to  assist  him,  threat- 

12 


178  BLACK  ICE. 

ening  to  brain  them  with  an  axe  if  they  did  not,  was 
gradually  working  tlie  sheet  back  under  her  bow 
to  clieck  the  leak  caused  by  the  explosion,  and 
prevent  her  rapid  sinking.  It  was  well,  indeed, 
that  he  did  so.  The  wounded  were  scattered 
about  in  every  part  of  the  boat,  and  one  of  the 
greatest  dangers  was  that  she  might  sink  before 
they  could  be  removed.  I  remember  noticing 
that  he  worked  as  coolly  as  if  there  were  nothing 
to  disturb  or  excite  him. 

"  By  this  time  the  runaways  began  to  return. 
The  children  and  the  women  who  were  unable  to 
assist  had  mostly  been  gotten  out  of  the  way,  and 
the  stream  of  mangled  and  suffering  humanity  be- 
gan to  move  up  the  gang-plank  and  along  the  w^harf 
toward  the  warehouse  pretty  steadily.  Distracted 
relatives  were  holding  their  dead,  or  seeking  to 
soothe  their  wounded.  I  was  importuned  on  all 
sides  to  look  at  this  one  and  that,  and,  despite  my 
conviction  of  its  impropriety,  I  found  myself  once 
or  twice  yielding  to  their  solicitation.  Then,  per- 
ceiving that  the  work  of  removal  was  going  on 
steadily,  and  knowing  that  my  place  of  action  was 
at  the  point  to  which  the  injured  were  being  re- 
moved— was,  indeed,  strictly  that  of  the  medical 
man — I  took  my  way  to  the  warehouse,  and  began 
the     organization     of     an     extempore     corps     of 


SADDLE-BAGS    TO    THE  RESCUE!  179 

nurses  to  assist  in  the  separation,  care,  and  removal 
of  those  who  had  been  rescued.  A  good  many- 
had  been  brought  ashore  insensible;  some  of 
them  drowned,  others  perhaps  susceptible  of  re- 
suscitation. These,  of  course,  demanded  my  atten- 
tion first.  Fortunatel}?  the  blue-eyed  giant  whom 
I  had  sent  out  upon  the  hills  after  the  shirkers 
was  at  hand  and  asking  for  something  more 
to  do.  Telling  him  to  select  as  intelligent  men 
and  women  as  he  could  lay  hands  on,  I  directed  all 
the  apparently  dead  or  insensible  to  be  taken  to 
a  barn  a  little  farther  up  on  the  hillside,  whither  I 
hastened,  and  examined  each  body  as  it  arrived. 
I  exemplified  the  methods  of  resuscitation,  and, 
after  giving  as  full  directions  as  I  could,  placed 
the  work  of  attempting  to  revive  some  of  the  more 
hopeful  cases  in  the  hands  of  these  willing  but 
unskilled  attendants. 

''  I  had  been  upon  the  ground  probably  some- 
thing like  an  hour.  I  remember  noticing  that  the 
sun  was  getting. low  as  I  hurried  back  to  the  ware- 
house. During  all  this  time  I  had  not  opened  the 
case  of  instruments  which  I  fortunately  had  in 
my  pocket,  nor  done  hardly  anythmg  for  the  re- 
lief of  a  single  sufferer.  I  had  only  organized  the 
forces  which  were  at  hand,  keeping  steadily  in 
mind  the  fact  that  more  good  was  likely  to  be  ac- 


180  BLACK  ICE. 

complished  by  facilitating  the  removal  of  the  in- 
jured and  attending  to  the  resuscitation  of  those 
apparently  drowned  than  by  specific  attention  to 
any  one  of  the  wounded  victims. 

"On  my  return  to  the  warehouse  I  was  sur- 
prised to  note  that  something  like  order  had  al- 
ready been  established  therein.  Parties  with  ex- 
temporized stretchers  were  bringing  in  the  wound- 
ed, while  others  were  fetching  hay  from  the  barn 
across  the  road,  on  which  the  sufferers  were  placed 
in  regular  rows  along  the  sides  of  the  building. 
There  was  no  lack  of  nurses;  every  one  who  was 
uninjured  seeming  anxious  to  do  something.  Ex- 
cept the  hushed  wailing  moans  of  the  wounded, 
and  the  intermittent  shrieks  of  those  who  had 
been  scalded  by  the  escaping  steam,  there  was  little 
noise  and  no  confusion.  Every  one  was  busy 
under  intelligent  direction.  The  old  building  had 
settled  down  upon  the  side  tow^ard  the  river,  and 
the  sloping  floor  seemed  to  have  been  especially 
designed  for  this  last  service  which  it  rendered  to 
suffering  humanity.  The  whole  thing  fell  in  not 
long  afterward,  and  now  only  a  few  unweighted 
piles  remain  to  mark  the  spot.  I  had  hardly 
passed  the  doorway  when  a  little  woman  came  up 
to  me  and  said: 

"'This    way,   doctor,  if   you    please.     You    will 


SADDLE-BAGS   TO    THE  RESCUE!  181 

find  all  the  worst  cases  over  here.  I  have  had 
them  arranged  as  nearly  as  possible  with  regard  to 
apparent  necessity  for  immediate  attention.' 

"  She  spoke  with  perfect  coolness,  and  even  then 
I  could  not  but  admire  her  good  sense  and  unusual 
self-control. 

"  She  led  the  way  to  the  other  side  of  the  building 
as  she  spoke.  There  I  found  a  sight — well,  I  have 
no  words  to  describe  it,  and  hope  never  to  see  its 
like  again.  I  took  off  my  coat  and  went  to  work. 
Of  course  I  had  none,  or  next  to  none,  of  the 
things  that  were  most  required.  Somehow  the  lit- 
tle woman  managed  to  get  me  lint  and  band- 
ages— how,  I  could  only  guess.  I  had  little  use 
for  the  latter.  Most  of  the  wounded  could  wait. 
It  was  the  scalded  and  burned  that  demanded 
attention  first.  Cotton  batting  and  sweet  oil 
were  what  I  most  required — cotton  by  the  pound, 
and  oil  by  the  gallon.  I  think  the  comfortables  in 
all  the  houses  at  the  Landing  were  torn  up  to  get 
the  cotton  they  contained;  and  though  no  oil  could 
be  procured,  this  level-headed  woman  got  a  crock 
of  cream  and  some  eggs,  out  of  which  was  made 
a  substitute  that  mitigated  many  a  sufferer's 
agony.  This  and  the  steady  drip  of  cold  water 
were  the  only  means  we  had  of  relieving  a  hun- 
dred shrieking   sufferers.     I  tell  you,  gentlemen,  it 


182  BLACK  ICE. 

was  a  stroke  of  common-sense  that  any  medical 
practitioner  might  be  proud  of.  I  confess  it  had 
not  occurred  to  me  until  a  supply  was  ready  at  my 
hand.  It  was  hardly  inferior  to  the  best  prepared 
collodion.  I  would  have  taken  off  my  hat  to  her, 
when  she  brought  it  to  me,  only  my  hat  was  gone, 
and  my  hands  were  too  busy  to  take  it  off  if  it  had 
not  been. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

A    WOFUL    NIGHT. 

<i  A  FTER  a  while  my  professional  brethren 
began  to  arrive  with  help  and  supplies. 
Raines  had  obeyed  orders,  and  was  among  the 
first  to  report  with  a  wagon-load  of  necessary 
articles.  The  poor  fellow  was  greatly  grieved  that 
he  was  not  the  very  first.  Since  that  time  he 
keeps  a  couple  of  hampers  ready  packed  in  his 
pharmacy,  with  the  things  needed  in  such  an  acci- 
dent, and  it  has  more  than  once  been  proved  a 
very  wise  thing  to  do.  Say  what  you  will,  General, 
about  promptness  in  the  army,  I  doubt  if  there 
was  ever  a  set  of  men  who  would  do  as  many 
things,  and  as  nearly  the  right  ones,  in  the  same 
space  of  time  as  a  company  of  physicians  to  whom 
knowledge  of  a  great  disaster  comes  unexpectedly. 
Here  were  these  men,  nearly  all  of  them  country 
practitioners,  not  accustomed  to  accidents  of  this 
kind,  as,  thank  God,  few  people  are,  who  half  an 
hour  before,  perhaps,  had  not  heard  of  the  explo- 
sion.    Not    one    of   them    had   wasted  a  minute's 


1S4  BLACK  ICE. 

time.  Everything  he  had  in  his  office,  or  that  the 
villaee  in  which  he  lived  afforded,  that  could  be 
of  benefit  to  the  sufferers,  he  had  thought  of,  and 
either  brought  himself  or  directed  others  to  bring. 
One  after  another  they  came,  and  with  the  invaria- 
ble courtesy  of  the  profession  reported  to  me  for 
duty,  simply  because  I  happened  to  have  been  the 
first  on  the  ground  and  was  naturally  supposed  to 
know  what  needed  most  urgently  to  be  done.  I 
assure  you,  General,  I  have  often  felt  very  proud 
of  the  impromptu  hospital  staff  that  gathered 
around  me  that  night. 

"  After  a  while  George  came,  and  the  old  man 
Stohl  slipped  around  and  whispered  in  my  ear: 

'"Never  broke  his  stride  the  whole  way,  and  I 
believe  would  have  made  the  trip  back  without 
hurting  him  a  mite.' 

"  I  looked  up  at  his  face,  and  never  saw  a  finer 
exhibition  of  the  beautifying  power  of  good  works. 
I  do  not  think  the  glow  of  that  day  ever  left  the 
old  man's  countenance  until  he  entered  the  golden 
gate  a  year  or  so  afterwards. 

"Well,  we  had  a  terrible  time — terrible!  Though 
help  and  supplies  flowed  in  so  that  there  were 
hands  enough  to  do,  and  abundance  of  all  things 
necessary  to  do  with,  I  shall  never  forget  the  long 
hours  of  that  night,  and  the    terrible    scenes  with 


A    WOFUL  NIGHT.  185 

which  they  were  filled.  I  lost  sight  of  the  little 
woman  who  had  been  as  my  right  hand  before  the 
surgeons  arrived,  until,  some  time  along  in  the 
early  morning  hours,  I  heard  a  childish  voice,  down 
at  the  lower  end  of  the  warehouse,  singing,  in  soft, 
clear  tones,  snatches  of  Sabbath-school  songs.  It 
seemed  strange  indeed,  amid  the  sad  sounds  and 
sadder  silence  of  those  scenes  of  death  and  pain, 
to  listen  to  these  tender  notes.  As  quick  as  I 
heard  them  I  knew  they  were  the  saddest  of  all 
sounds — the  dying  notes  of  an  unconscious  soul. 
Almost  involuntarily  I  went  to  the  spot  from 
which  they  proceeded,  and  there  saw  my  assistant 
of  the  evening  before,  with  a  golden-haired  child 
of  perhaps  seven  or  eight  5^ears  of  age  pressed 
close  against  her  breast.  The  child  was  singing, 
with  wide-open  eyes  that  saw  nothing  of  the  sad 
scenes  around  her,  one  after  another  of  the  little 
hymns  she  had  learned  at  her  mother's  knee.  All 
about  her  was  pain  and  woe.  Tears  were  flowing 
down  the  cheeks  of  those  who  stood  around.  The 
sufferers,  who  lay  upon  each  side  of  the  room  by 
scores,  almost  forgot  their  own  agony  as  they  lis- 
tened to  her  voice.  Her  cheek  was  flushed.  In 
her  dreaming  fancy  she  was  about  to  retire  to  rest. 
She  bade  good-night  to  all,  and  sank  into  the  sleep 
that  knows  no  waking.     She  was  the  most  beauti- 


186  BLACK  ICE. 

ful  child  I  ever  saw.  A  piece  of  the  wreck  had 
struck  her  head  and  fractured  the  skull.  Nothing 
could  be  done  until  the  morning,  and  that  morn- 
ing she  could  not  wait  to  see.  As  she  ceased  sing- 
ing with  a  tremulous  gasp,  I  stooped  down,  touched 
her  wrist,  noted  the  signs  of  death,  and  sought  to 
take  her  from  the  enfolding  arms. 

"'Don't  take  her  away,  doctor.  Let  me  hold 
her,'  said  the  brave  woman. 

"  I  informed  her  as  gently  as  I  could  of  the  fact 
which  is  always  unexpected  and  terrible.  With  a 
groan  that  wrung  my  heart  she  laid  her  head  be- 
side the  dead  child's  face,  while  her  form  was  con- 
vulsed with  sobs.  After  a  little,  some  of  the 
women  lifted  her  up  and  took  the  child  away.  She 
was  as  unconscious  as  the  little  corpse  that  was 
taken  from  her  arms.  I  saw  her  comfortably  placed 
upon  a  pile  of  straw,  waited  until  she  began  to  re- 
vive, and  then,  to  spare  myself  the  pain  of  witness- 
ing the  sorrow  which  I  expected  would  follow  her 
complete  restoration,  strolled  out  upon  the  wharf 
down  toward  the  sunken  steamer,  the  smoke-stack 
and  upper  deck  of  which  were  all  that  remained 
above  water, 

"A  little  group  of  those  who  had  been  among 
the  most  active  workers  of  the  night  gathered 
about    me.     Perhaps  some  of   them  were  already 


A    WOFUL   NIGHT,  187 

there  before  I  came.  As  we  stood,  talking  dis- 
jointedly  as  people  do  on  sucli  occasions,  some 
one  pointed  to  the  water  just  in  front  of  the 
steamer's  prow.  In  the  early  morning  light  one 
could  see  everything  beneath  almost  as  plainly  as 
above  its  placid  surface.  We  saw,  I  think,  the 
strangest  sight  that  ever  mortal  eyes  beheld. 
Standing  upright  on  the  river-bottom,  the  left 
hand  clasping  a  book  to  her  breast,  the  other 
raised  upward  with  outstretched  finger  as  if  point- 
ing to  the  sk}^,  stood  the  figure  of  a  woman 
clothed  in  white,  swaying  back  and  forth  as  if 
keeping  time  with  some  melody  too  subtle  for 
mortal  ears  to  catch.  The  eyes  were  open,  and 
seemed  to  look  toward  us  with  a  tender,  pleading 
gaze.  The  soft  white  drapery  rose  and  fell  about 
her  as  if  moved  by  a  gentle  breeze.  Her  long  fair 
hair  floated  over  her  left  shoulder.  For  a  mo- 
ment all  were  petrified.  It  seemed  like  a  vision 
of  promise  to  the  dead  that  lay  about  her  on  the 
bottom  of  the  river.  Instinctively,  those  who 
were  covered  removed  their  hats  as  if  conscious 
we  stood  in  a  holy  presence.  For  a  moment  a 
sweet  supernal  awe  thrilled  every  heart.  Then 
reason  asserted  its  sway,  and  told  us  that  it  was 
no  heavenly  vision.  Arrangements  were  quickly 
but   silently  made    for    raising  the  seraphic  form. 


188  BLACK  ICE. 

It  was  tlie  body  of  a  bride,  yet  arrayed  in  the 
spotless  garments  she  had  worn  at  the  altar,  and 
clasping  to  her  breast  a  prayer-book  which  con- 
tained betwixt  its  leaves  the  record  of  her  yester- 
day's marriage. 

"  Turning  away  from  this  sad  scene,  a  woman 
informed  me  that  the  lady  whose  little  child  had 
died  wished  to  see  me.  I  found  her  where  I  had 
left  her  with  the  calm  look  of  self-control  which  I 
had  noted  the  evening  before  upon  her  face. 

*' '  I  am  very  sorry,  madam,'  I  said,  'for  the 
death  of  your  little  girl.* 

"  '  It  was  not  my  cliild,'  she  said. 

"  'Not  yours  ?'  I  asked  in  surprise.  'Whose  was 
it?' 

" '  I  do  not  know.  Would  to  God  she  had  been 
mine  ! ' 

"Then  the  tears  burst  forth,  and  for  an  instant 
I  thought  I  saw  into  her  heart.  No  one  in  all  the 
rescued  company  knew  aught  of  the  little  corpse 
that  lay  beside  the  weepiirg  woman,  whose  heart 
yearned  to  claim  even  the  beautiful  clay  as  her 
own.  Nothing  more  has  ever  been  learned  of  the 
seraph  who  joined  the  angel-clioir  with  the  earth- 
notes  of  praise  upon  her  lips.  The  little  grave 
upon  the  hillside  just  above  has  on  its  head-stone 
only  the  last  lines  the  dying  sufferer  sang. 


A    WOFUL  NIGHT.  189 

*'I  was  about  turning  away  when  the  lady  said, 
half  apologetically  : 

"  '  I  wish  you  would  examine  my  arm,  doctor.' 

"  Looking  at  her  carefully  I  could  see  that  she 
was  suffering  intensely.  "  Upon  examination  I 
found  her  left  arm  was  dislocated  at  the  shoulder. 
She  had  ministered  to  others  all  that  night,  ut- 
tering no  word  of  complaint  nor  disclosing  by  any 
sign  her  own  suffering." 

*' And  that  woman  ?"  said  Twining,  as  he  leaned 
forward  with  a  glow  in  his  dark  eyes  I  had  not 
seen  there  for  years. 

"That  woman  was  Helen  Somers,"  said  the 
doctor,  jerking  his  thumb  toward  the  parlor, 
'"'■  That  was  the  first  time  I  ever  saw  her,"  he 
continued,  after  a  short  silence,  ''and  I  had  never 
heard  of  her  before.  Sh^  continued  her  journey 
that  afternoon  after  the  little  girl  had  been  buried 
on  the  hillside  in  a  coffin  she  sent  across  the  river 
to  procure.  I  noticed  that  her  purse  was  none 
too  heavy  when  she  gave  me  the  commission, 
and  through  the  grateful  remembrance  of  some 
whom  she  had  served  I  was  able  to  return  it  to 
her  unlightened  by  the  kindly  act  she  contem- 
plated. She  handed  me  her  card  as  she  was  leav- 
ing, but  I  hardly  thought  of  her  again  for  two 
years,  except   now  and   then  to  wonder  what  had 


190  BLACK  ICE. 

been  the  experience  wliich  had  made  her  the 
woman  she  had  shown  herself  that  night.  You 
see  I  liave  no  sympatliy  with  this  idea  tliat  men 
and  women  are  born  of  heroic  tempers  any  more 
than  they  are  born  of  heroic  mould.  Heroes  are 
grown,  cultivated,  raised — just  as  much  as  beets 
and  turnips.  So  I  knew  that  this  modest,  self-con- 
tained woman,  who  never  once  lost  her  head 
among  the  terrible  scenes  of  that  night,  who  re- 
membered that  eggs  whipped  up  with  cream  were 
not  a  bad  substitute  for  sweet-oil  in  the  treatment 
of  fresh  burns,  when  an  old  practitioner  like  me 
was  in  despair;  who  thought  always  of  others  and 
not  of  herself,  and  who  took  that  little  golden- 
haired  anofel  into  her  heart  and  made  her  heaven- 
ward  way  more  tolerable  by  ignoring  her  own 
suffering — I  knew  that  this  woman  was  no  more  a 
work  of  chance  than  the  human  soul  itself,  but 
that  the  Divine  Master  had  cut  and  shaped  her 
nature  with  the  keen-edged  but  unerring  instru- 
mentality of  suffering.  A  rare  nature  like  hers 
shows  the  finest  touches  of  Divine  handiwork,  no 
doubt,  but  it  needs  them  all  the  same.  I  used  to 
think  of  her  sometimes  and  wonder  what  the  pro- 
cess was  by  which  this  diamond  had  been  so  finely- 
cut. 

"  About  two  years  afterward  I  was  spending  a 


"     A    WOFUL   NIGHT.  191 

week  or  so  in  a  little  village  among  <^he  mountains 
of  Vermont.  Mother  had  coaxed  me  to  go  with 
her  for  a  vacation,  as  she  said.  I  don't  care  much 
for  vacations,  and  have  an  idea  that  we  real!}''  get 
more  rest  by  running  down  to  the  city  and  staying 
at  a  hotel  for  a  few  days,  any  time  except  in  the 
very  hottest  weather,  than  in  any  other  way, 
simply  because  it  affords  the  most  complete 
change.  However,  Harriet  insisted  upon  going; 
so  we  went.  I  very  soon  exhausted  all  there  was 
of  interest  for  me  in  the  region,  and  one  day  in 
sheer  desperation  dropped  into  the  school-house. 
I  had  listened  to  wonderful  stories  of  the  lady 
who  had  charge  of  tlie  village  scliool,  and  sup- 
pose I  had  heard  her  name  a  dozen  times,  but 
had  never  once  thought  of  connecting  her  with 
the  heroine  of  D wight's  Landing.  I  recognized 
her,  however,  in  a  minute.  She  welcomed  me  as 
if  I  had  been  an  old  friend,  though  there  was 
a  shade  of  pain  mingled  with  the  soft  flush  on 
her  cheek.  Well,  I  need  not  say  what  I  saw  at 
the  school.  She  surprised  me  just  as  much 
there  as  she  did  at  the  Landing,  but  her  capacity 
in  the  school-room  has  become  an  old  story  in 
Gladesboro,  while  I  have  never  before  told  the 
story  of  the  explosion  to  any  one  but  Harriet." 
'*  Mrs.  Somers,  of  course,  knew  you  were  instru- 


192  BLACK  ICE. 

mental  in  getting  her  this  place?"  mused  Hart- 
zell. 

"  She  called  and  thanked  me,"  replied  the 
doctor,  "and  remarked  that  I  had  probably  done 
her  a  greater  favor  than  I  supposed.  I  asked  her  to 
what  she  referred,  thinking  I  miglit  perhaps  get  a 
clue  to  the  story,  about  which  I  was  really  curious." 

"  What  did  she  say?"  I  asked. 

"  Merely  looked  at  me  with  those  great  earnest 
eyes,  and  said  she  preferred  not  to  tell  me  just 
then.  The  time  might  come,  she  said,  when  I 
would  not  need  to  be  told." 

"  I  vow!"  said  Hartzell,  "  that  was  cool." 

"  It  was  honest,  George  Hartzell,"  said  the 
doctor,  warmly.  "I  had  never  felt  as  much  re- 
spect for  her  as  I  did  at  that  moment,  and  it  has 
increased  every  minute  since,  as  I  have  noted  her 
life  and  work  here." 

*' She  is  unquestionably  a  good  teacher,"  I  re- 
marked sententiously. 

"Bah!"  said  the  doctor,  snapping  his  fingers 
viciously  in  my  face.  "  That  is  all  you  know 
about  it.  She  has  done  more  to  make  Gladesboro 
the  unusually  happy  and  orderly  village  it  is  than 
all  the  other  people  in  it." 

"Why,  what  has  she  done?"  I  asked  in  surprise. 

"What    hasn't    she    done?"  retorted   the   doctor. 


A    WOFUL  NIGHT.  193 

*'  Look  back  and  see  the  changes  five  years  have 
wrought  in  the  social  and  moral  life  of  our  village." 

"  They  have  been  very  great,"  I  admitted. 

'•r  should  think  they  had,"  he  said  exultingly. 
"Look  at  the  library,  the  reading-room,  the  even- 
ing school,  tlie  Mechanical  Club,  the  Art  Class,  the 
Reading  Club,  and  the  courses  of  lectures  we  have 
each  winter." 

''  But  you  don't  mean  to  say  she  has  done  it 
all  ?"  I  laughed. 

"  Every  bit  of  it.  Of  course  she  has  made  you 
and  me  and  all  the  people  help  her  ;  but  we  would 
never  have  lifted  a  hand  but  for  her  inspiration 
and  leadership.  She  has  revolutionized  the  town, 
and  left  us  to  think  we  were  doing  it  ourselves." 

"  And  you  have  not  learned  her  story  yet  ?" 
said  Twining,  after  a  pause. 

"Not  a  word,"  replied  the  doctor;  "but  I  shall 
know  it  some  day.  I  was  so  impressed  by  her 
course  in  declining  to  speak  of  her  own  affairs 
that  I  told  her  if  she  ever  needed  a  friend  to 
call  upon  me  and  she  would  find  one  ready-made, 
who  would  do  her  bidding  and  ask  no  questions." 

"What  did  she  say  to  that?"  I  asked. 

"Merely  put  her  hand  in  mine  and  said,  *I  am 
sure  of  it,   doctor.'     But  there   were  tears  in   her 
eyes,  and  in  her  voice  too,  as  she  said  it." 
13 


194:  BLACK  ICE. 

"  Well,  doctor,"  said  Hartzell,  laughing,  almost 
sneering,  I  thought,  ''  Mrs.  Somers  has  a  most 
knightly  defender,  though  he  is  an  old  man." 

"  George  Hartzell,"  said  the  doctor,  severely, 
pointing  his  long  finger  at  him  as  he  spoke,  "it 
would  be  greatly  to  your  credit  if  she  had  a  young 
knight  who  was  equally  honorable  and  devoted." 

Twining  and  I  were  both  astounded  at  the 
doctor's  warmth.  Hartzell  flushed  deeply  and 
seemed  about  to  make  an  angry  response,  when 
there  came  a  knock  at  the  library  door,  and  an  in- 
stant after  Hester  opened  it,  as  is  her  wont,  with- 
out waiting  to  be  bidden,  and  swept  us  a  royal 
courtesy  from  the  threshold  as  she  said: 

"If  you  can  dispense  with  tobacco  and  scandal 
for  a  little  while,  gentlemen,  we  shall  be  glad  to 
see  you  in  the  parlor." 


Note.— The  incident  of  the  bride,  related  on  page  187,  and 
that  of  the  little  girl  singing  Sabbath-school  hymns  as  she  lay 
dying  from  the  effects  of  the  explosion,  being  literally  true,  the 
author  feels  morally  certain  that  they  will  be  regarded  as  improb- 
able and  unnatural  by  those  conscientious  and  all-wise  critics  who 
are  wont  to  condition  Divine  power  with  unhesitating  readiness. 
From  some  experience  as  a  writer  of  fiction,  the  author  has 
learned  that  the  portions  of  his  work  which  are  always  pounced 


A    WOFUL  NIGHT.  195 

upon  by  these  sapient  oracles  as  too  improbable  for  belief,  if 
not  altogether  impossible  to  have  occurred,  are  always  those 
which  have  been  transcribed  with  the  utmost  literalness  from 
actual  life.  In  one  instance,  he  copied  almost  word  for  word 
the  sworn  confession  of  a  criminal,  and  was  met  with  uni- 
versal comment  that  the  situation  was  "  too  improbable  to 
command  belief,  and  the  idea  that  a  man  would  employ  such 
language  in  speaking  of  such  an  act  absolutely  incredible."  In 
this  case  the  incidents  given  were  related  to  me  by  a  good 
physician  in  whose  life  it  was  an  unforgettable  incident. 


CHAPTER   X. 

"personal  and  confidential." 

T_T  ESTER  is  a  queenly  woman.  Perhaps  I 
■"^  have  intimated  this  before;  but  I  am  sure  I 
have  not  uttered  the  thought  half  as  often  as  it  has 
been  in  my  mind.  As  she  stood  in  the  dooway 
betwixt  the  brilliantly  lighted  hall  and  the  dim 
cosiness  of  the  library,  and  shook  her  forefinger 
at  me  with  mock  imperiousness,  I  thought  that 
time  had  but  added  to  her  charms.  Our  life  had 
been  one  of  intense  earnestness,  yet  our  friends 
were  accustomed  to  say  that  we  made  of  it  a  con- 
stant jest.  The  fact  is  that  my  profession  sepa- 
rated me  so  thoroughly  from  the  home  life,  that 
the  glimpses  which  I  had  of  it  were  almost  of  ne- 
cessity filled  with  rollicking  mirth  and  almost  con- 
tinual banter. 

The  man  who  stays  at  home  seven  days  in  the 
week,  fifty-two  weeks  in  the  year,  and  is  engaged 
in  a  business  all  of  whose  ins  and  outs,  ups  and 
downs,  prospects  and  contingencies,  his  wife  and 
family  understand   and    share  with   him,   finds    it 


''PERSONAL  AND   CONFIDENTIAL."        197 

hard  to  appreciate  the  domestic  life  of  one  whose 
business  almost  of  necessity  excludes  participation 
in  the  knowledge  of  its  details,  enforces  his  ab- 
sence from  the  family  circle  perhaps  three  fourths 
of  the  time,  and  breaks  up  the  remaining  fourth 
into  periods  of  indefinite  length  and  uncertain 
recurrence.  At  home  to-day,  I  make  the  most  of 
it.  To-morrow  I  may  be  summoned  to  go  a 
thousand  miles  away,  and  must  leave  upon  the 
instant.  Such  is  the  imperiousness  of  a  profession 
ordinarily  regarded  as  especially  enviable  in  the 
independence  which  it  brings. 

Usually  my  stay  at  home,  whether  long  or 
short,  is  chiefly  devoted  to  the  elucidation  of  some 
idea,  a  demonstration  of  some  fact,  or  the  solution 
of  some  professional  problem  which  is  always  lying 
in  wait  to  pounce  upon  my  leisure. 

Chance,  rather  than  inclination,  forced  me  into 
the  position  of  the  consulting  engineer.  Though 
my  name  was  still  associated  with  a  firm  in  a 
neighboring  city,  I  had  for  some  time  performed 
but  little  of  that  labor  which  falls  to  the  lot  of  the 
constructing  engineer.  Perhaps  a  natural  apti- 
tude, or  it  may  have  been  a  cultivated  inclination, 
had  led  me  not  only  to  prefer  the  solution  of 
knotty  problems,  but  to  acquire  some  reputation 
for  success   in   that    direction.     This  is   a  quality 


198  .    -  BLACK  ICE. 

always  in  demand  in  our  profession;  so  that  no 
sooner  was  this  characteristic  recognized  by  my 
professional  brethren,  by  lawyers  and  by  capital- 
ists, than  I  was  in  a  sense  forced  out  of  the  regular 
routine  work  devolving  on  the  firm  of  Reynolds, 
Bryce  &  Co.,  and  compelled  to  take  up  the  some- 
what nondescript  existence,  peculiar  to  our  day  and 
time,  of  the  professional  scientific  expert.  The 
life  was  in  the  main  a  most  agreeable  one,  but  its 
effect  upon  the  domestic  economy  was  no  less 
marked  than  its  influence  upon  the  library.  A 
professional  man  who  does  the  bulk  of  his  work 
at  his  office,  bringing  home  with  him  at  night,  if 
anything,  only  some  fag  end  of  the  day's  labor 
which  he  quietly  employs  to  economize  an  unfilled 
hour  or  two  of  the  evening,  would  have  had  no  use 
for  such  a  combination  of  library,  laboratory,  and 
machine-shop  as  I  deemed  essential  not  merely  to 
my  comfort,  but  to  the  achievement  of  specific 
results. 

Here  I  hid  away  from  the  world  when  I  had 
a  purpose  to  accomplish,  a  problem  to  solve,  a 
result  to  achieve.  Though  in  my  own  home,  I  was 
hardly  of  it.  Hester  and  Bertha  loved  to  come 
and  watch  my  work,  but  it  was  too  far  outside  of 
their  training  for  them  to  comprehend  its  details 
or  judge   of  the   prospects   of  success.     Not   only 


''PERSONAL  AND   CONFIDENTIALr        199 

this:  but  my  time  was  too  valuable,  or  the  neces- 
sity of  working  with  that  peculiar  glow  which 
comes  almost  like  inspiration  to  those  on  whom 
devolves  the  performance  of  such  tasks,  impera- 
tively excluded  association  and  companionship 
therein.  It  was  only  when  the  task  was  done,  or 
when  my  mind  was  crushed  by  its  apparent  hope- 
lessness and  I  threw  it  aside  to  wait  for  a  more 
favorable  time,  that  I  really  became  a  part  of  the 
household.  In  fact,  Hester  was  not  merely  the 
head  of  the  family,  but  she  and  Bertha,  with  such 
friends  as  they  chose  to  have  with  them,  really 
constituted  the  family  itself,  I  being  merely  a 
transient  guest,  for  whose  entertainment  all  things 
were  indeed  ordered,  but  who  was  held  exempt 
from  the  cares  and  burdens  of  the  home.  I 
think  these  are  the  chief  reasons  why  our  married 
life  has  been  such  an  exceptionally  happy  one. 
Hester  has  never  had  time  to  get  thoroughly  tired 
of  me.  A  husband  who  to-day  is  required  to 
examine  Lake  Okeechobee  and  report  upon  the 
feasibility  of  draining  it,  and  to-morrow  may  be 
employed  to  devise  a  plan  for  turning  the  waters 
of  a  California  river  against  a  mountain-side 
miles  away,  that  it  may  be  eaten  down  and  its 
auriferous  deposits  revealed, — who  goes  up  and 
down  the  earth  dealing  always  with  some  new  and 


200  BLA  CK  ICE.  :' 

more  or  less  remarkable  problem, — is  sure  to  be 
regarded  not  only  as  a  visitor  in  his  own  home, 
but  a  most  welcome  and  distinguished  one,  during 
the  brief  intervals  which  he  can  give  to  domestic 
enjoyment. 

This  was  my  condition.  How  the  household 
goes  on  in  my  absence  I  have  little  idea.  I  sup- 
pose just  the  same  as  when  I  am  present.*  I  used 
to  smile  when  they  spoke  of  being  lonely  in  my 
absence.  I  confess  I  am  rarely  ever  lonely  when 
away  from  home.  Perhaps  because  always  busy 
with  something  new  and  in  new  surroundings; 
perhaps  because  I  have  long  ago  acquired  the 
habit  of  leaving  home  at  home,  and  looking  for- 
ward to  the  day  of  joyful  return  rather  than  re- 
garding with  mournfulness  the  day  of  departure. 
To  me  my  home  life  was  a  true  oasis.  I  not 
only  turned  back  to  it  for  enjoyment,  but  really 
counted  it  all  there  was  of  life.  Outside  of  it  was 
the  desert.  I  made  journeys  across  it.  I  sought 
advantage,  performed  tasks,  did  the  work  the 
world  required,  but  carried  about  no  home  with 
me,  nor  thought  that  my  life  was  of  it.  For  all 
this  I  turned  back  to  the  quaint  little  castle  on  the 
summit  of  Cragholt. 

It  was  because  of  these  tilings  that  my  presence 
at    home    during    a    holiday,   or,    indeed,  at   any 


''PERSONAL   AND   CONFIDENTIAL:'        201 

period  of  the  year  without  the  burden  of  pressing, 
imperious  work  upon  me,  was  always  a  signal  for 
gayety  and  rejoicing.  Though  quite  outside  of 
fashionable  life,  the  little  village  above  which  we 
dwelt  looked  forward  to  such  intervals  with  al- 
most as  much  of  anticipation,  I  have  sometimes 
thought,  as  my  family  themselves.  On  such 
occasions  I  always  found  that  Hester  and  her 
cronies  were  sure  to  have  some  plan  by  which  the 
days  of  home-staying  might  be  made  to  contribute 
something  to  others'  enjoyment.  She  and  Mrs. 
Somers  had  been  very  earnest  co-workers  in  the 
various  schemes  of  improvement  which  the  doctor 
had  so  justly  ascribed  to  the  influence  of  the 
latter;  yet,  somehow,  they  had  not  become  as 
intimate  as  ladies  are  apt  to  grow  when  associated 
in  such  work.  Indeed,  Hester  was  one  of  those 
women  who  have  few  intimates.  Every  one  in  the 
village  knew  her,  and  I  think  nearly  every  one  liked 
her;  but  there  was  about  her  a  sort  of  dignified 
reserve  that  kept  her  from  giving  more  than  was 
asked,  and  frequently,  I  think,  prevented  her  ren- 
dering as  much  as  was  expected.  So  while  she 
and  Mrs.  Somers  had  worked  very  earnestly  to- 
gether for  the  uplifting  of  the  village  life,  there 
was  none  of  that  effusive  devotedness  between 
them   that   is  ordinarily   found   in   such  cases.      I 


202  BLACK  ICE. 

have  a  notion  that  Hester  felt  somewhat  hurt  at 
the  fact  that  Mrs.  Somers  did  not  make  herself  a 
more  frequent  and  familiar  visitor  at  Cragholt, 
though  I  do  not  think  it  ever  crossed  her  mind 
that  the  woman  with  whom  she  had  wrought  so 
earnestly  and  pleasantly  for  the  good  of  others,  had 
any  such  thing  as  a  past  that  needed  to  be  ex- 
plained. 

I  am  not  a  bashful  man  in  the  ordinary  sense  of 
that  term,  yet  somehow  I  am  terribly  afraid  of 
little  companies.  Great  ones  I  do  not  fear  at  all. 
Indeed,  there  is  a  sort  of  solitariness  about  a 
multitude  which  makes  one  feel  almost  as  lonely 
as  in  the  wilderness.  I  can  remember  more  than 
once  standing  before  a  large  audience,  whose  eyes 
were  all  turned  toward  me,  and  experiencing  the 
same  sense  of  loneliness  and  isolation  that  one 
feels  at  sunrise  on  the  desert,  with  only  the  sky 
and  the  unbroken  horizon-line  to  mark  the  limit 
of  individuality.  The  multitude  does  not  come 
near  to  me.  They  may  scan  my  features,  criticise 
my  coat,  or  comment  on  my  words:  I  do  not  mind 
that.  They  cannot  come  within  the  limit  of  my 
personality.  They  cannot  see  into  my  soul.  They 
cannot  catch  my  eye,  and  enter  through  this 
treacherous  portal  the  inclosure  where  my  thought 
sits  secure  and  calm.     One  man  may  read  a  whole 


''PERSONAL  AND   CONFIDENTIAL."        203 

life's  history  in  another's  face.  A  thousand  can 
see  notliing  there,  no  matter  how  carefully  they 
scan  its  lineaments.  The  crowd  never  trenches 
on  one's  individuality,  no  matter  how  carefully  or 
how  intently  they  regard  him.  One  may  always 
be  sure  that  he  can  safely  defy  public  scrutiny. 
One  man  is  stronger  than  a  host.  He  has 
them  at  a  disadvantage.  Their  common  thought 
is  perfectly  legible  to  him.  The  orator  always 
knows  what  is  in  the  mind  of  his  auditors,  while 
his  own  thought  is  inscrutable  to  them.  That  is 
the  reason,  I  suppose,  that  an  audience  is  said  to 
"  hang  on  the  lips"  of  a  speaker.  They  get  the 
idea  that  he  has  some  thought  that  may  be  of 
interest  to  them,  and  their  only  way  to  this 
treasure  hidden  in  his  heart  is  over  his  lips.  If  he 
were  sitting  face  to  face  with  the  dullest  of  them, 
the  eye  would  ferret  out,  and  the  searching  soul 
weigh  and  measure,  the  secret  long  before  the  lips 
could  coin  it  into  words. 

So  the  ''little  company"  puts  one  at  a  disadvan- 
tage. It  is  too  large  a  circle  for  the  self-forgetful 
abandonment  of  friendship,  and  yet  comes  too 
near  to  permit  the  barrier  which  fences  out  the 
multitude  to  serve  as  a  protection.  While  a 
hundred  would  put  a  man  at  his  ease,  a  dozen 
may  thoroughly  disconcert   him.      I    might   think 


204  BLACK  ICE. 

myself  peculi^ir  in  this  respect,  had  not  others 
admitted  and  exhibited  the  same  sensation.  I 
know  a  great  orator  on  whose  words  thousands 
have  hung  with  delight,  who  seems  hardly  less 
than  a  boor  in  the  presence  of  a  "little  company." 
One  who  has  led  the  greatest  armies  of  the  age, 
whose  heart-beats  the  world  counted  for  months 
with  sympathizing  agony,  once  told  me  that  the 
greatest  multitude  that  could  be  assembled  did 
not  at  all  embarrass  his  thought  or  seem  to  restrict 
or  limit  his  individuality.  On  the  contrary,  the 
*' little  company"  was  like  a  barrier  of  fire  about 
him.  He  shrunk  into  himself  to  hide  away  from 
those  who  came  so  near  that  he  felt  their  scrutiny, 
and  yet  not  near  enough  so  that  he  could  afford  to 
throw  down  the  screen  of  selfliood  and  open  his 
soul  to  their  gaze  without  reservation. 

It  was  with  no  little  misgiving,  therefore,  that  I 
clasped  the  portfolio  which  contained  the  sketch  I 
was  to  read,  and  followed  my  friends  out  of  the 
library.  Hester  was  waiting  for  me  on  the  thresh- 
old. I  suppose  my  unprotected  scalp  even  then 
traitorously  betrayed  my  trepidation,  for  as  she 
took  my  arm  she  said,  in  a  half-laughing,  half- 
remonstrant  undertone: 

"  Don't  distress  yourself,  Percy.  There  is  no 
one  here  whose  presence  need  annoy  you." 


''PERSONAL  AND   CONFIDENT! AW        205 

Tiie  truth  is  she  knew  my  weakness  and 
pitied  my  embarrassment.  I  think  one  of  the 
dearest  wishes  of  her  life  had  been  that  she 
might  now  and  then  assemble  a  company  of 
friends  and  have  me  read  to  them  some  little 
product  of  my  leisure.  I  was  given  to  writing 
little  sketches  of  what  I  saw  in  my  various 
journeyings;  and  though  I  liked  well  enough  to 
read  them  to  Hester  and  Bertha,  and  might  have 
included  Maud  and  Allie,  I  could  not  go  beyond 
that  without  visible  constraint.  I  do  not  mind 
seeing  things  in  print — that  is  like  addressing 
a  crowd;  but  to  read  what  one  has  written  to  a 
dozen  listeners,  in  one's  own  house,  is  a  test  of 
nerve  for  which  war  offers  no  parallel. 

I  suppose  that  by  tlie  time  we  had  crossed  the 
hall  and  reached  the  brilliantly  lighted  parlors  my 
confusion  must  have  been  evident  to  the  dullest 
observer.  Hester,  who  had  no  sympathy  for  this 
state  of  mind,  but  was  naturally  anxious  to  con- 
ceal it,  kept  me  in  strict  charge  until  she  saw  me 
safely  ensconced  upon  a  lounge  in  the  farthest  cor- 
ner, beside  wiiich  she  had  placed  a  stand  with  an 
argand  burner,  well  knowing  that  deceitful  dis- 
tance would  disarm  prying  eyes,  and  that  after 
a  time  I  would  forget  whether  I  read  to  half  a 
score  or  to  a  thousand. 


206  BLACK  ICE. 

She    had    done    more    than    that.     Her   cunning 
foresight  had  shown   itself  in  the  arrangement  of 
quite   an   elaborate   programme   which    was    to    be 
completed   before  my  ordeal    began.     First    there 
was  music — George  Hartzell  at  the  piano  and  Jack 
Twining  with  his  violin,  and  fresh  young  voices  fill- 
ing  the    room  with   harmonious    prophecies   of  to- 
morrow.    I  had  not  heard  Twining  play  since  the 
old  days   before  the  world  came  between  us.     As  I 
lay  back  on  the  lounge  and  watched   him,  I  could 
easily  note    the  growth  since   then.      His  was   the 
*'  singing   touch "   upon    the    bow    that    made    this 
most    inscrutable  and    bewitching    of    instruments 
the  interpreter  of  the  soul.     Softened  yet  strength- 
ened had  Jack  Twining  been  by  his  past,  yet  some- 
how it  seemed  as  if  the  future  promised  still  more, 
as  the  old  doctor  had  declared.      He  was  one  of  the 
few  players  wdiom    I  have    heard,  whether   profes- 
sional or  amateur,  who   seemed   to   be  easily   and 
thoroughly    master    of     the    instrument    he    held. 
The  "imp  of  the  violin"  gave  him   no  trouble.     It 
obeyed    his   will,   and  under  his   firm,  even   touch 
gave  a  man's  rendering  of  what  he  played.     Some- 
how,   I     fancied     that    he    was     playing    to    Mrs. 
Somers     that    night,    and     offering    her    knightly 
sympathy  and  chivalric  admiration. 

I  do  not   know   what    put    it    in    my   mind,  but 


''PERSONAL  AXD   CONFIDENTIAL:'        207 

when  the  music  ceased  and  George  Hartzell 
turned  quickly  on  his  stool,  I  tliought  it  was  to 
flash  a  look  of  inquiry  into  the  face  of  the  teacher, 
and  then  another  into  that  of  my  friend,  who  was 
putting  his  violin  into  its  case.  He  even  seemed 
troubled  or  irritated  by  something  he  saw  or 
failed  to  see  in  their  faces.  I  smiled  as  I  thought 
that  Hartzell,  for  all  his  carelessness,  might  be 
jealous  of  the  pretty  widow.  He  was  one  of  the 
most  familiar  frequenters  of  our  hearth.  Mrs. 
Somers  I  had  but  rarely  met  in  company,  and 
never  before  when  George  was  present.  As  he 
moved  his  eyes  from  Twining's  face  and  let 
them  rest  on  the  fair,  daintily  cut  features  of 
the  woman  of  whose  heroism  we  had  heard  that 
night,  there  was  a  strangely  anxious,  almost  angry, 
expression  in  his  blue  eyes,  and  a  hard,  set  look 
about  his  lips  which  I  did  not  like  and  could  not 
understand.  As  for  the  object  of  his  scrutiny,  she 
sat  gazing  into  the  fire  as  if  her  thoughts  were 
very  far  away.  The  start  she  gave  when  Hester 
spoke  her  name  convinced   me   that  they  were. 

Then  came  the  surprise  of  the  evening,  which 
had  been  carefully  kept  from  me.  There  was 
to  be  a  Shakespearean  reading.  The  parts  had 
been  given  out  and  practiced  by  the  young  people 
for   a  week,  I    learned    afterward,   but   that   from 


208  BLACK  ICE. 

which  we  all  expected  most  entertainment  was 
Hartzell's  rendering  of  the  character  of  tlie  Cardi- 
nal, for  tlie  play  selected  was  that  which  pivots  on 
the  trial  of  Queen  Katlierine  and  the  downfall  of 
her  relentless  enemy.  The  7-6le  was  a  favorite  one 
wifh  George,  and  he  was  a  reader  of  rare  skill  and 
power.  Mrs.  Somers  w^as  Queen  Katherine.  She 
had,  too,  the  general  arrangement  and  assignment 
of  parts  and  positions,  as  it  appeared.  In  so  doing 
she  seemed  to  pay  no  attention  to  HartzelL  Slie 
merely  noted  his  position,  and  grouped  her  readers 
accordingly.  The  place  reserved  for  herself,  not 
by  design,  but  by  the  exigencies  of  the  play,  as  it 
seemed,  was  just  beyond  the  chandelier,  with  the 
full  glare  of  its  light  falling  on  her  face.  Hart- 
zell  stood  opposite,  only  his  side  face  showing, 
from  where  I  sat,  when  addressing  her  We 
were  not  disappointed  in  the  Cardinal,  nor,  in- 
deed, in  any  of  the  other  parts  save  that  of  the 
Queen.  The  young  people  read  distinctly,  prompt- 
ly, and  with  fair  appreciation.  Indeed,  they 
formed,  as  should  always  be  the  case  in  such  pri- 
vate dramatic  efforts,  a  pleasant  but  not  striking 
background  for  the  really  accomplished  readers. 
But,  as  I  said,  Mrs.  Somers's  rendition  of  Queen 
Katherine  was  a  surprise.  I  happened  to  be  look- 
ing at  George  when  she  uttered   the  words,  ''  I  am 


''PERSONAL  AND   CONFIDENTIAL:'        209 

a  poor,  weak  woman,"  and  I  saw  the  color  go  out 
of  his  face  and  his  lips  quiver  as  he  listened  to  tlie 
firm,  tender,  pleading  accents  which  told  a  stricken 
woman's  woe.  Then  my  eyes  rested  on  her  face, 
and  I  did  not  wonder  at  the  hush  that  had  fallen 
on  the  little  company.  The  soft  brown  hair  had 
lightened  into  gold  under  the  blaze  of  the  chande- 
lier. A  soft  flush  rested  on  her  face,  and  an  almost 
tearful  light  burned  in  her  eyes  as  she  looked  up 
at  George,  as  if  the  defense  she  uttered  were 
her  own  hopeless  protest  against  intangible 
injustice.  I  will  not  try  to  describe  either  her 
reading  or  its  effects.  If  I  should  liv^e  a  thousand 
years,  I  could  not  forget  that  slight  figure  in  the 
circle  of  softened  liglit — a  hint  of  pearly  white 
about  the  throat,  one  slender  hand  half-raised  in 
unwillino"  remonstrance  asfainst  the  act  of  "the 
king,  my  husband,"  whom  she  seemed  with  undy- 
ing loyalty  so  very  loath  to  blame  even  by  implica- 
tion. I  shall  never  forget  either  her  tones  or  her 
manner. 

The  character  has  always  been  a  favorite  one 
with  me,  and  I  so  rarely  hear  one  of  Shake- 
speare's characters  rendered  without  feeling  that 
my  own  ideal  has  been  tarnished  and  distorted, 
that  I  dread  almost  to  see  them  attempted 
even  by  the  most  famous  artists.  On  and  off  the 
14 


210  BLACK  ICE. 

Stage  I  Iiave  heard  the  best.  Strange  as  it  may 
seem,  I  liave  never  heard  anything  to  compare 
witli  this  frail,  weak  teaclier's  rendition  of  this 
vvondrously  intricate  and  difficult  part.  For  once 
my  ideal  was  infinitely  beneath  the  one  por- 
trayed. Neither  on  nor  off  tlie  stage  have  I  ever 
listened  to  a  characterization  to  compare  with 
this  in  effect,  in  delicacy,  fervor,  and  truth.  Her 
voice  was  not  remarkable.  Indeed,  I  think  it  would 
have  been  termed  thin  if  one  could  disassociate  it 
from  the  words — the  thouglit  which  even  its  weak- 
ness served  to  intensify.  One  knew  she  was  a 
"  poor,  weak  woman,"  and  pitied  her  because  her 
wrongs  were  incurable.  The  sympathy  of  the 
poor  gentleman  who  alone  dared  speak  his  pity 
was  phrased  by  Twining,  and  I  make  no  doubt 
that  every  one  felt  its  tender  abruptness  to  ex- 
press their  own   thought  most  fitly. 

Hartzell's  part,  finely  as  it  was  given,  lost 
flavor  by  comparison  with  this  strangely  thrilling 
impersonation.  I  thought  tliat  was  the  cause  of 
the  strange,  dissatisfied  look  on  his  face  wlien 
the  reading  was  over.  Every  one  but  he  joined 
most  heartily  in  the  plaudits  showered  upon  the 
fair  reader.  She  bore  her  honors  modestly,  but  I 
thought  somewhat  wearily,  as  if  she  would  rather 
not  have  won  them  if  by  that  means  she  might  have 


"PERSONAL   AND   CONFIDENTIAL:'        211 

escaped  the  involuntary  training-  which  made  such 
a  triumph  possible. 

As  for  the  doctor,  he  had  not  taken  his  eyes 
from  her  face  from  the  beginning  to  the  end. 
When  it  was  over  he  turned  to  me,  and  laying  his 
slender  hand  upon  my  knee,  gazed  searchingly 
into  my  face  and  whispered: 

"  I  declare,  Reynolds,  she  terrifies  me.  What  do 
you  think  she  will  do  next  ?" 

And  yet,  though  unusual,  this  unrivaled  power 
was  not  unnatural.  It  was  only  another  instance 
of  the  superiority  of  nature's  preparation  over  any 
mere  human  training.  The  trouble  is  that  only 
once  in  a  century  do  we  find  one  strong  enough  to 
endure  such  preparation,  and  of  fine  enough  tex- 
ture to  give  forth  true  notes  under  the  touch  of 
the  Master's  hand. 


CHAPTER   XI. 

THE    ORDEAL    OF  *'  NO.    T." 

T  WAS  so  engrossed  by  what  I  Jiad  seen  and 
heard  that  I  opened  my  portfolio  meclianically, 
when  called  upon  by  the  company,  and,  almost  be- 
fore I  knew  what  I  was  about,  began  to  read.  The 
schoolmistress,  somewiiat  flushed  with  the  ovation 
she  had  received,  but  still  calm  and  collected,  sat 
directly  in  front  of  me  in  the  full  glare  of  the 
light,  as  if  she  challenged  the  almost  sinister  gaze 
which  George  cast  upon  her  from  the  half-sliadow 
of  the  screen  which  shielded  him  from  the  firelight. 
Bertha,  who  had  long  been  a  devout  worshiper 
of  the  fair  woman  who  was  uppermost  in  our 
thoughts  that  night,  had  drawn  an  ottoman  beside 
her,  and  with  one  arm  thrown  across  her  lap  in 
affectionate  freedom,  waited  for  me  to  begin  the 
story  of 

*'  My  First   Skates. 
Dedicated  to  m}^  Daughter." 
(As  I  read   the  title,  Bertha  rose   and   courtesied 
with  a  mock  gravity  that  brought  a  laugh.      I  was 


THE   ORDEAL   OF  ''NO.    I."  213 

glad  of  it,  for  a  laugh  takes  away  a  great  deal  of 
the  terror  a  "  little  company"  inspires,  and  I  pro- 
ceeded much  more  at  my  ease  for  the  saucy  inter- 
ruption.) 

"  I  should  not  like  to  confess  how  many  years 
ago  it  was  that  I  first  became  the  owner  of  a  pair 
of  skates.  It  seems  to  me  an  age,  but  it  cannot  be 
long.  The  world  has  been  moving  so  fast  that 
cycles  seem  to  have  intervened  since  that  winter 
morning  when,  a  chubby  boy  of  twelve,  I  rode  with 
my  father  to  a  village  twelve  miles  away  to  invest 
a  part  of  the  proceeds  of  the  autumn's  harvest  of 
nuts,  and  perhaps  a  few  of  the  skins  of  wild  '  var- 
mints'  I  had  trapped,  in  such  a  glittering  posses- 
sion. For  a  year  this  had  been  my  one  ambition. 
There  were  not  many  boys  of  my  acquaintance  who 
possessed  such  a  treasure,  and  this  fact  no  doubt 
made  the  luxury  doubly  dear  to  me.  In  that  day 
skates  were  to  a  country  lad  of  that  part  of  the 
region  where  I  lived,  at  least,  very  much  what 
camels  are  to  the  Arab,  ponies  to  the  Indian,  or 
reindeer  to  the  Laplander, — the  indubitable  evi- 
dence of  rank  among  his  fellows.  It  was  not  even 
then  the  far  West,  but  there  was  not  a  railroad 
within  a  hundred  miles,  and  the  only  sort  of  steam 
transport  I  had  ever  seen  were  the  low-pressure 
steamers  which  in  summer  trailed  their  long  lines 


214  BLACK  ICE. 

of  black  smoke  above  the  blue  waters  of  the  great 
lake  lying  to  the  northward.  The  regular  stroke 
of  their  engines,  which  could  be  heard  miles  away, 
is  one  of  the  summer  memories  of  my  boy- 
hood. 

"  The  country  was  not  new,  or  at  least  not  consid- 
ered new.  Its  first  settlers  were  already  old  men 
and  women,  and  growing  scarce  at  that.  The  for- 
ests were  rapidly  disappearing.  There  were  even 
some  places  where  one  could  see  the  light  through 
the  strip  of  woodland  on  the  rear  ends  of  the  abut- 
ting farms  which  fronted  on  the  township  roads  a 
mile  apart.  It  was  a  farming  community,  and 
farming,  in  that  day  meant  hard  work  and  small 
profits.  There  was  no  want,  and  hardly  any  trace 
of  luxury.  Money  was  scarce,  and  toys  scarcer 
still.  California  had  yielded  its  first  harvest  of 
gold,  but  its  influences  had  not  yet  reached  the 
popular  life.  It  had  only  touched  the  consciousness 
of  that  region  in  the  form  of  little  nuggets  sent 
back  by  adventurous  miners  from  that  El  Dorado. 
How  well  I  remember  peeping  over  my  father's 
shoulder  at  the  first  nugget  I  ever  saw — a  lump  of 
virgin  gold  holding,  in  a  grip  which  the  ages  had 
not  served  to  loosen,  a  bit  of  white  translucent 
quartz  polished  by  long  attrition  with  the  pebbles 
in    the  river-bed.     It   was    perhaps   as   large   as   a 


THE   ORDEAL   OF  "NO.    7."  215 

good-sized  pea,  and  I  dreamed  that  night  of  pick- 
ing them  up  like  cliestnuts  under  forest  leaves. 

"  Luxuries  were  scarce.  I  doubt  if  there  were 
_three  pianos  in  the  town.  I  am  not  sure  there 
were  any.  I  know  I  had  never  heard  one.  Ahnost 
every  child  had  a  few  picture-books,  and  we  made 
those  few  go  a  great  way.  For  the  same  reason 
toys  were  scarce  also,  and  save  such  means  of 
childish  pleasure  as  nature  afforded,  and  some 
rough,  home-made  playthings,  the  boys  and  girls 
of  that  day  had  very  few  of  those  mechanical  aids 
to  enjoyment  which  constitute  so  large  a  part  of 
the  child-life  of  to-day.  I  suppose  Bertha  had  more 
books  before  she  was  ten  than  her  father  and 
mother  both  possessed  at  twenty.  We  were  greedy 
for  them,  too.  Tlie  boy  or  girl  of  that  day  counted 
a  book  the  most  priceless  of  treasures.  In  this  re- 
spect I  was  looked  upon  with  envy  by  my  fellows. 
Yet  our  youngsters  would  laugh  if  I  should  give  a 
catalogue  of  my  library.  Fortunately  my  father 
was  fond  of  reading,  and  had  a  few  good  books. 
Two  weekly  papers  and  a  monthly  magazine  came 
to  the  house.  Of  these  the  files  had  been  sacred- 
ly kept  for  years,  and  what  treasures  they  were  ! 
How  many  days  they  filled  with  golden  glory! 
Some  of  them  were  brown  with  age.  The  smell  of 
the    paper-mill  was    yet    upon  others.      How  full 


216  BLACK  ICE. 

and  rich  they  were  in  story  and  tradition!  The 
world  they  dealt  with  was  even  then  the  world  of 
the  past.  Tales  of  colonial  life  and  war  ;  Wash- 
ington and  his  generals;  Napoleon  and  his  mar- 
shals; historical  and  biographical  sketches;  pioneer 
hunters  and  preachers — the  life  of  the  nation's 
past  was  recorded  in  them  with  a  vividness  the 
present  knows  little  of, 

"  There  was  not  much  news  in  those  days.  Save 
the  debates  in  Congress,  and  the  stories  of  battles 
and  marches  in  Mexico,  there  does  not  seem  to 
have  been  much  happening  that  was  thought 
worth  recording.  The  tale  of  each  day's  iniquities 
wras  not  told  over  and  over  again  with  that  horrible 
particularity  which  characterizes  our  modern  pe- 
riodical literature.  Masses  were  of  more  impor- 
tance than  individuals,  then.  The  debates  in 
Congress  were  given  at  great  length.  Column 
after  column  of  speeches,  some  good  and  some 
bad,  no  doubt,  but  all  bearing  on  the  great  ques- 
tions of  the  day,  came  week  by  week,  to  almost 
every  household  in  the  land.  I  wonder  what  the 
boys  and  girls  of  to-day  w^ould  think  of  a  group 
of  youngsters  from  ten  to  fifteen,  sitting  on  the 
hay  in  the  great  barn  mow,  listening  while  one  of 
their  number  read  the  last  great  speech  in  Con- 
gress, or  discussing  with  fierce  ardor  the  pros  and 


THE   ORDEAL   OF  ''NO.    I."  217 

cons  of  the  pending  political  questions,  while  the 
swallows  twittered   in   their  nests  under  the  eaves. 

"Ah,  we  do  those  things  better  now!  Master 
and  miss  know  all  the  tedious  chatter  of  to-da3^ 
Gossip  has  taken  the  place  of  history,  and  scandal 
the  place  of  political  discussion.  In  this  way  we 
nourish  crime  and  pettiness.  The  boy  of  fifteen 
knows  little  of  his  country's  history  save  what  his 
school  text-book  tells  him.  The  young  lady  of 
to-day  knows  more  about  the  city's  sins  than  she 
does  about  the  war  for  liberty. 

*'  Even  the  religious  papers  are  largely  taken 
up  with  the  record  of  personal  incident.  In 
some  of  them  it  is  well  headed  '  Religious  Gos- 
sip ;  '  though  the  column  is  apt  to  contain  more 
gossip  than  religion.  The  record  of  petty  inci- 
dent takes  the  pas  of  everything  else.  Perhaps 
it  is  better,  but  I  should  feel  safer  about  the 
future  if  our  youth  read  and  thought  more  of  the 
great  things  of  yesterday,  and  less  of  the  little 
things  of  to-day, 

"  But  to  return  to  the  skates.  Their  purchase 
was  a  momentous  epoch  in  my  life.  I  remem- 
ber that  they  were  'fourteen  shillin's,'  so  the 
merchant  said.  He  had  some  for  'twelve  shil- 
lin's.*    They  lacked  the  brass  tips  on  the  slender 


218  BLACK  ICE. 

points  that  turned  over  the  toes,  however.  I 
could  never  see  that  those  brass  tips  added  at  all 
to  the  propulsory  capacity  of  the  skates,  but  some- 
how they  seemed  a  most  essential  ingredient  of 
the  investment  I  was  about  to  make,  so  that,  de- 
spite the  extra  quarter,  I  finally  decided  upon 
those  with  the  coveted  tips. 

"  Even  with  this  piece  of  added  extravagance 
they  were  very  plain  and  cumbrous  affairs  com- 
pared with  the  modern  '  club' skates.  Instead  of 
the  solid  metallic  nickel-plated  bed  fitting  exactly 
the  sole  of  the  boot,  and  firmly  attached  to  it  by 
almost  invisible  metallic  clamps  which  act  auto- 
matically, or  are  manipulated  by  means  of  a 
thumb-piece  which  hides  itself  under  the  curve  of 
the  instep, — instead  of  these  multiplied  adorn- 
ments and  modern  conveniences,  my  first  skates 
were  simply  crude,  hollow-edged  runners  set  in 
clumsy  wooden  frames,  to  which  were  attached  a 
multiplicity  of  straps  and  buckles  by  which  the 
feet  were  harnessed  to  them.  I  had  still  to  pay  a 
harness-maker  another  half-dollar  for  putting  on 
these  attachments.  There  was  a  stay-strap  for 
the  toe  and  a  back-strap  for  the  heel,  with  a  ring 
upon  each  side  where  the  cross-straps,  which 
passed  over  the  instep,  engaged  with  the  heel- 
strap,    and    returning    buckled    clo§e    about    the 


THE   ORDEAL   OF  "NO.    /."  219 

foot.  All  these  were  considered  necessary  in 
those  days  to  hold  the  skates  in  place.  In  addi- 
tion to  them  all  it  required  a  great  deal  of  stamp- 
ing and  puffing  to  drive  the  iron  peg  into  the 
heel  and  get  the  skate  actually  in  position,  and 
buckle  the  straps  up  to  the  very  last  possible 
hole.  I  am  half  inclined  to  think,  sometimes, 
that  the  boy  and  girl  of  to-day  would  rather 
forego  the  pleasure  of  skating  than  have  so  much 
trouble  to  put  themselves  Mn  stays*  before  their 
sport  begins.  Yet  I  doubt  if  any  earthly  posses- 
sion has  given  me  greater  pleasure,  or  filled  my 
heart  with  more  vainglorious  pride,  than  those 
awkwardly  made  and  marvelously  equipped  skates. 
"  I  could  hardly  restrain  my  anxiety  to  show 
them  to  my  playmates.  The  journey  home 
seemed  almost  interminable,  though  the  sleighing 
was  delightful  and  the  lively  bays  did  not  loiter 
on  the  road.  As  soon  as  the  chores  were  done 
and  supper  over  I  started  for  our  nearest  neigh- 
bors, the  Matsons,  to  display  my  treasures.  The 
Matson  children  were  my  especial  cronies, — proba- 
bly because  they  were  the  nearest.  I  was  an  only 
child,  saving  a  little  wee  sister  whose  cunning  blue 
eyes  had  not  yet  learned  to  take  pleasure  in  any- 
thing so  cumbrous  and  unattractive  as  this  pair  of 
iron   runners.      Like   myself  she  was  strongly  at> 


220  BLACK    ICE. 

traded  to  the  brass  tips,  however,  and  seemeu  to 
have  an  irresistible  inclination  to  put  them  in  her 
mouth. 

"At  the  Matsons'  there  was  no  lack  of  children. 
They  ranged  from  several  years  older  than  my- 
self down  to  a  close  rivalry  in  infantile  experi- 
ence to  my  baby  sister.  I  was  at  liberty  to 
choose  association  with  the  oldest  or  the  youngest. 
There  was  but  one  boy,  Tim,  who  was  about  my 
age.  He  was  a  fat,  lubberly  fellow,  but  as  good- 
natured  as  a  seal.  He  seemed  to  have  been  born 
to  bad  luck,  however.  His  parents  were  not 
poor,  but  there  were  a  great  many  children  in 
the  house.  The  father  was  always  '  complaining,' 
and  the  mother  found  it  difficult  to  '  make  buckle 
and  tongue  meet.'  Tim  was  a  wonderfully  will- 
ing fellow,  but  he  seemed  never  to  be  in  the 
right  place  at  the  right  time.  He  was  always 
at  the  tail  end  of  a  race  ;  the  first  one  to  be 
found  when  we  played  '  I  spy,'  the  first  to  be 
caught  when  we  played  '  goal,'  and  the  last  to  be 
chosen  when  we  played  ball.  He  was  not  bright 
at  his  lessons,  either,  so  that  school  offered  little 
compensation  for  the    mishaps  of   the   playground. 

"But  Tim  was  not  envious — it  was  too  much 
trouble  to  be  anything  so  positive — and  I  remem- 
ber well  how  longingly  and  earnestly  he  gazed  at 


THE   ORDEAL   OF   "NO.    I."  221 

those  SKates  in  the  glowing  firelight  without  a 
particle  of  discontent  or  envy  in  the  tones  in 
which  he  recounted  their  excellencies  and  rejoiced 
with  me  in  their  possession.  He  was  somewhat 
older  than  I,  and  a  great  deal  bigger;  but  some- 
how I  used  to  'boss'  him  around  and  patronize 
him  as  if  I  had  been  his  senior  by  half  a  decade. 
But  then  I  fought  his  battles  for  him,  too,  stood  up 
for  his  rights,  and  allowed  nobody  to  impose  on 
Tim  Matson  on  the  playground  or  in  the  school 
while  I  was  around.  We  never  had  a  quarrel  in  our 
lives;  and  though  the  years  are  many  since  I  have 
seen  the  dear  old  dunderhead,  and  I  do  not  even 
know  whether  he  is  in  the  land  of  the  living  or 
not,  I  must  say  that  I  have  met  few  really  better 
fellows  or  truer  hearts  than  my  boyhood  play- 
mate, lubberly  Tim  Matson. 

"Tim's  sisters  partook  a  good  deal  of  his 
characteristics.  They  were  fat,  fair,  freckled,  and 
fussy  ;  not  over-bright,  but  endowed  with  an  inex- 
haustible good-nature.  Those  who  were  older 
than  Tim  petted  him  as  the  only  boy  of  the 
family  ;  those  who  were  younger  than  he  looked 
up  to  him  as  the  coming  man.  They  were  good- 
natured  girls,  whom  labor  or  privation  did  not 
trouble,  but  to  whom  the  curriculum  of  the  dis- 
trict school  was  rather  formidable.     Tim  was  the 


222  BLACK  ICE. 

king  of  their  hearts  and  the  prophet  of  their 
hopes.  But  they  were  jolly  friends  of  all  the 
other  neighboring  children;  and  as  for  me,  who  was 
their  nearest  and  most  familiar  associate,  I  think 
they  liked  me  almost  as  well  as  Tirn,  having  a  due 
appreciation  for  certain  attributes  I  was  thought 
to  possess,  and  of  which  poor  Tim  was  wofully 
lacking. 

''  From  this  description  must  be  excepted  his 
sister  Mary  Jane,  an  ethereal,  tender,  sensitive 
soul,  next  younger  than  Tim,  and  the  boon  com- 
panion of  my  life.  When  Tim  and  I  parted  com- 
pany she  kept  step  with  me  in  every  hope  and 
aspiration.  Plain  as  was  the  life  which  encom- 
passed us,  it  did  not  lay  heavy  burdens  on  the 
children's  shoulders.  There  was  little  luxury,  but 
much  leisure.  Woods  and  fields  were  open  to 
us.  Brook,  meadow,  and  hillside  brought  to  us 
their  priceless  treasures  of  beauty  and  inspiration. 
All  these  she  shared  with  me  to  the  fullest.  When 
Tim  and  the  other  sisters  tired  of  story  or  adven- 
ture, we  were  always  anxious  for  more.  The 
rarest  wild  flowers,  the  most  cunning  bird's  nests, 
and  the  fairest  little  nooks  in  the  forest  I  sought 
out  for  her.  In  all  that  we  studied  I  think  she 
kept  pace  with  me,  if,  indeed,  she  did  not  lead  the 
way.     In  searching  out  the  wonders  of  the  printed 


THE   ORDEAL   OF  ''NO.    I."  223 

page  she  was  always  my  companion.  We  read 
the  same  books,  loved  the  same  things  in  nature, 
had  the  same  thoughts  and  hopes.  We  left  the 
others  simply  because  they  did  not  care  to  go 
where  we  delighted  to  wander.  I  do  not  think  it 
ever  once  occurred  to  us  that  they  might  not  have 
kept  pace  with  us  if  they  so  desired.  We  were 
simply  of  kindred  tastes,  and  shared  unconsciously 
each  other's  aspirations.  We  were  so  much  to- 
gether that  the  others  laughed  at  our  apparent 
fondness  for  each  other,  but  I  do  not  think  we 
ever  once  thought  of  being  annoyed  at  the  fact. 
"  She  was  very  fair ;  her  hair  a  soft  brown, 
while  the  blushes  came  and  went  upon  her  cheeks 
as  quickly  and  lightly  as  the  shadows  flit  over  the 
summer  meadows.  She  was  wonderfully  gentle, 
too.  I  used  to  get  angry  at  the  gibes  her  sisters 
sometimes  addressed  to  her.  I  do  not  remember 
ever  to  have  heard  her  answer  harshly.  Nor  do  I 
think  that  even  my  unconscious  tyranny — for  of 
course  I  was  a  tyrant,  as  every  boy  is  of  a  girl  play- 
mate— ever  produced  a  suspension  of  the  amicable 
relations  between  us.  She  used  now  and  then  to 
wish  that  Tim  were  a  better  scholar  or  a  livelier 
boy,  and  would  occasionally  attempt  to  stir  his 
sluggish  nature  to  the  accomplishment  of  tasks 
for  which  he  had  little  relish.     Yet  she  was  very 


224  BLACK  ICE, 

jealous  of  her  lubberly  brother,  and  more  than 
once  incited  me  to  hostile  measures  against  those 
who  had  spoken  slightingly  of  her  poor  Tim. 

"As  we  sat  around  the  fire  that  night,  Tim 
holding  the  skates  out  to  the  light,  turning  them 
over  and  over  and  dwelling  warmly  upon  their 
excellencies,  the  mother  and  older  sisters  were  in- 
clined to  improve  the  occasion  to  stimulate  his 
energies  by  disparaging  comparison. 

"'Got  them  with  the  money  you  sold  chestnuts 
for,  did  you?'  said  the  mother,  shrilly.  'Tim 
wouldn't  ever  think  as  far  ahead  as  that.  He 
don't  seem  to  care  about  doing  anything  nor  get- 
ting anything  for  himself  like  other  boys.  There's 
Mary  Jane,  now;  slie's  got  some  gumption. 
Picked  up  most  as  many  chestnuts  as  you  did  last 
fall,  didn't  she?  But  Tim  don't  seem  to  have  any 
faculty  for  doing  anything  unless  he  has  some  one 
to  lead  him  around,  show  him  how  to  do  and  tell 
him  when  and  where,  and  then,  of  course,  he  only 
gets  tlie  leavin's  after  the  rest  have  taken  all  they 
want.' 

"  This  was  a  great  wrong  to  poor  Tim,  who  in- 
deed worked  much  harder  than  I  had  ever  done, 
and  would  have  gathered  just  as  many  nuts,  per- 
haps, if  the  labors  required  of  him  at  home  had 
not  rested  so   heavily   upon   his  young  shoulders. 


THE   ORDEAL   OF  ''NO.    /."  225 

That  Mary  should  have  as  many  was  not  strange, 
for  she  always  went  witli  me,  and  we  picked  often 
in  the  same  basket. 

"Mary  Jane  came  to  the  rescue,  and  boldly  as- 
serted that  it  was  quite  unnecessary  that  Tim 
should  have  a  pair  of  skates,  because  he  could  use 
mine  half  the  time,  and  one  pair  would  do  very- 
well  for  both.  This  was  a  new  view  of  the  matter 
to  me,  and  one  which  I  may  confess  was  not  en- 
tirely satisfactory.  I  was  willing  that  Tim  should 
have  my  skates  half  the  time,  but  I  preferred  to 
select  the  time  and  let  him  have  them,  say,  from 
April  to  November.  Perhaps  I  might  have  con- 
sented to  liis  using  them  now  and  then  during  the 
winter,  but  tliat  they  should  be  avowedly  held  at 
his  disposal  for  any  considerable  portion  of  the 
time  available  for  use  was  not  at  all  a  comforting 
reflection.  Mary  evidently  saw  that  I  was  not  in 
an  especially  generous  mood,  so  she  cleverly  sug- 
gested that  we  should  all  go  out  to  the  pond  and 
try  the  new  skates.  The  proposal  was  a  wel- 
come one  to  all  except  myself.  I  did  not  care 
about  making  my  dehiit  upon  the  new  runners  with 
quite  so  many  spectators.  Alone  in  the  cold 
winter  moonlight,  or  even  with  Mary  Jane  as  sole 
witness  of  my  exploits,  I  should  have  been  very 
willing  to  display  my  skill  in  their  management. 
15 


BLACK  ICE. 

However,  it  was  useless  to  demur  and  impossible 
to  escape.  All  were  ready  in  an  instant  ;  the  girls 
muffled  in  shawls,  with  mittens  and  hoods,  and 
Tim  and  I  with  our  caps  pulled  down  over  our 
ears,  and  coats  closely  buttoned  up. 

"  The  pond  was  down  the  hill  just  below  the 
barn — an  acre  or  two  of  clean  black  ice,  as  smooth 
and  glare  as  a  still  winter  night  without  a  hint 
of  snow  can  produce.  The  frozen  ground  gave 
back  our  echoing  footsteps;  the  sides  of  the  barn 
and  the  thick  forest-wall  across  the  little  stream 
multiplied  our  shouts  and  laughter  until  it 
seemed  as  if  an  army  of  boys  and  girls  v/ere 
marching  down  upon  the  silent  pond  to  witness 
my  trial-trip. 

"I  was  a  little  afraid  of  the  new  skates.  In 
the  first  place,  they  were  new,  and  I  was  not  ex- 
actly sure  there  might  not  be  some  peculiar 
idiosyncrasy  attached  to  their  sharp,  smooth 
surfaces  which  would  prove  more  than  a  match 
for  my  knowledge  and  experience.  I  had  now 
and  then  had  a  bit  of  exercise  upon  a  bor- 
rowed pair,  and,  when  the  previous  winter  gave 
way  to  spring,  had  gotten  considerable  con- 
fidence in  my  power  to  manage  a  pair  of  the 
mystical  slippers;  but  that  was  ever  so  long  ago 
— it  seemed  an  *age'  at  least.     This  was  the  very 


THE  ORDEAL   OF  ''NO.    7."  227 

first  freeze  of  the  winter.  I  had  not  yet  got 
my  skating  legs  on,  and  here  I  was  to  perform 
on  a  pair  of  utterly  inexperienced  ice-cutters  be- 
fore half  a  dozen  girls,  one  of  whom  was  ready 
any  day  or  night  to  wager  her  immortal  soul 
that  I  could  beat  tlie  champion  of  the  world.  I 
got  very  cold  before  we  reached  the  pond,  and 
kept  growing  colder  all  the  time  as  I  proceeded 
to  adjust  my  skates.  It  seemed  as  if  there  never 
was  such  a  cruel,  cold-blooded,  vacillating  moon 
as  the  one  that  teetered  and  tipped  and  jeered 
at  me  out  of  the  deep  blue-black  of  a  night  with 
snow  in  the  northwest.  I  almost  wished  I  was  a 
girl,  because  girls  did  not  skate  in  those  days,  or 
at  least  very  seldom  did  so.  After  a  long  time  the 
skates  were  properly  adjusted  and  securely  fast- 
ened. There  were  straps  enough  on  them  to  make 
a  harness,  and  I  spent  all  the  time  I  could  over 
each  one,  but  I  could  not  keep  on  forever.  Tim 
was  very  helpful.  Confound  the  rascal !  I  be- 
lieve he  had  an  intuition  of  what  was  going  to 
happen.  He  pulled  and  buckled  and  thumped 
and  twisted  and  tried  every  strap  until  there  was 
no  further  pretense  for  delay — no  reason  why  I 
should  not  rise  and  conquer.  So  I  got  up  on  one 
knee.  Tim  gave  me  his  hand.  Mary  Jane  stood 
by  smiling  and  triumphant.     The  other  five  girls, 


22 S  BLACK  ICE. 

one  or  two  boys  who  had  been  brought  to  the 
pond  by  the  sound  of  our  voices,  and  a  stray  dog 
stood  on  the  shore  to  witness  my  dciwueinent  and 
applaud  the  marvels  I  was  expected  to  perform. 

"  The  start  was  not  promising,  and  the  audience 
seemed  to  be  coolly  critical.  At  the  very  first 
stroke  my  feet  took  an  unaccountable  aversion  to 
each  other,  and  very  nearly  pulled  my  legs  off  try- 
ing to  get  to  the  antipodes.  When  I  managed  to 
conquer  this  inclination  and  get  them  firmly  to- 
gether under  me  again,  I  turned  and  faced  the  au- 
dience, determining  to  remove  the  unfavorable  im- 
pression which  I  felt  I  had  created.  I  suppose  the 
instinct  of  politeness  impelled  me  to  bow  very  low 
in  acknowledgment  of  their  presence  and  atten- 
tion. The  movement  was  executed  with  what 
might  be  termed  impetuous  haste.  I  stretched 
out  my  hands — stretched  them  out  very  far — and 
suddenly  lifted  them  straight  up,  then  as  quick- 
ly thrust  them  straight  downward.  The  skirt  of 
my  '  warm-us  *  stuck  out  in  a  direct  line  toward 
the  Ursa  Major.  One  of  the  boys  on  the  shore 
said  that  I  was  taking  a  back-sight  at  the  North 
Star.  Tim  coolly  intimated  that  I  was  feeling  for 
stones  in  the  ice.  I  mentally  vowed  to  whip  both 
of  them  the  next  day;  but  in  the  mean  time  de- 
voted my  energies  to  regaining  the  perpendicular, 


THE   ORDEAL   OF  ''NO.    I."  229 

which  I  rigidly — very  rigidly — maintained  for  a 
considerable  time.  The  audience,  one  by  one,  got 
tired  of  inaction,  and  went  off  by  themselves  to 
slide — all  but  Mary  Jane.  She  faithfully  remained 
near  to  cheer,  soothe,  or  assist,  as  the  case  might 
be.  I  hated  those  two  boys  and  despised  those 
other  girls.  However,  I  went  on  practicing. 
They  laughed  at  my  movements,  and  I  twitted 
them  with  not  having  any  skates.  Gradually  I 
grew  more  confident,  and  at  the  same  time  more 
angry. 

"At  length  there  was  a  call  from  the  other  side 
of  the  pond,  and  out  of  the  shadow  of  a  group 
of  willows  sailed  a  boy  who  had  lately  come  into 
our  neighborhood  from  the  city.  The  skates 
flashed  and  sang  as  he  sped  toward  us.  How  I 
envied  his  skill  !  He  went  hither  and  thither 
with  that  easy,  rapturous  swing  which  reminds 
one  of  the  swallow's  flight  when  he  skims  'along 
the  smooth  lake's  level  brim.'  He  was  a  graceful, 
polite  boy,  with  something  of  the  culture  of  the  , 
city  which  seemed  inscrutable  to  our  country 
ways.  His  jaunty  fur  cap  sat  lightly  upon  the 
short  brown  curls,  and  his  face  was  one  of  those 
bright,  sparkling  countenances  that  charm  all  be- 
holders. As  he  came  near  enough  to  recognize 
us  he  inquired   whose  skates   I  had,  and  when  I 


230  BLACK  ICE. 

answered,  very  curtly,  that  they  were  mine,  he 
came  close  to  me,  stooped  down,  inspected  them 
sharply,  pronounced  them  beauties,  and  patroniz- 
ingly offered  to  lend  me  a  hand  to  start  me  on  my 
slippery  way.  Of  course  I  repelled  any  such  prof- 
fer with  indignation.  The  idea  of  a  boy  with  new 
skates  hanging  on  to  another's  coat-tail  was  noth- 
ing less  than  insult.  He  laughed  at  my  timidity, 
told  me  to  strike  out  and  not  be  afraid,  and  away 
he  went,  turning,  doubling,  backward  and  for- 
ward, swaying,  sailing  on  in  the  moonlight.  I 
saw  Mary  Jane  watching  him  with  admiring 
eyes,  and  hated  him. 

"  Finally  I  felt  compelled  to  abandon  my  policy 
of  dignified  reserve.  I  grew  more  and  more  con- 
fident, and  at  length  struck  out  boldly  across  the 
pond,  determined  to  rival,  if  I  could  not  outdo,  this 
adversary  who  was  taking  all  the  admiration  from 
my  new  skates.  I  made  a  few  strokes  with  tol- 
erable success,  and  was  already  beginning  to  con- 
gratulate myself  upon  having  adopted  a  bold 
policy,  when  there  came  a  sudden  mutiny  among 
my  members.  I  do  not  know  to  this  day  exactly 
what  was  the  matter.  Three  or  four  pairs  of  legs 
seemed  to  be  mixed  up  in  the  controversy,  al- 
though I  was  sure  I  was  alone,  almost  in  the 
middle  of  the  pond.     All  the  legs  were  apparent- 


THE  ORDEAL   OF  "NO.    I.'*  231 

ly  opposed  to  '  rapid  transit.*  No  two  of  them 
were  inclined  to  go  in  the  same  direction.  The 
world  itself  turned  over  and  over,  and  with  it 
went  'the  starry  firmament,*  at  a  most  tremen- 
dous rate  of  speed.  I  believe  every  movement  of 
which  the  earth  is  susceptible  was  performed 
in  the  brief  interval  while  I  stood  there  attempt- 
ing to  suppress  those  seditious  legs.  The  *  sweet 
little  star  that  sat  down  by  the  moon '  got  out 
of  his  seat  as  if  it  burned,  and  danced  all  over 
the  blue  empyrean.  The  boys  and  girls  at  the 
other  end  of  the  pond  played  a  war-dance  that 
would  have  made  the  Modocs  ashamed  of  their 
choicest  performances.  I  do  not  exactly  know  what 
it  was,  but  it  left  them  all  standing  on  their  heads 
in  the  middle  of  the  blue  vault  of  heaven  with  all 
the  world  looking  on.  The  last  I  saw  of  Mary 
Jane,  she  was  sitting  on  the  ridgepole  of  her  fa- 
ther's barn  a  hundred  yards  away,  with  the  new 
moon  in  her  lap,  trying  to  pick  her  teeth  with  the 
brass  tip  of  one  of  my  skates. 

"That  is  the  way  I  remember  the  catastrophe. 
Exactly  what  happened  to  me  after  that  last  look 
at  the  confused  surroundings  I  have  never  been 
able  to  understand.  There  was  some  sort  of  a 
collision.     A  comet  with 

"'Ten  thousand  cubic  miles  of  head, 
Ten  billion  leagues  of  tail,' 


BLACK  ICE. 

flashed  across  the  sky.  It  was  accompanied  by  a 
meteoric  shower  of  most  unprecedented  character. 
The  crazy  planets  flew  in  all  directions — up  and 
down  and  from  every  point  of  the  compass.  They 
flashed  and  hissed  about  me  in  such  numbers  that 
I  thought  all  the  stars  of  heaven  had  broken  from 
their  orbits,  and  were  making  double  time  toward 
that  little  patch  of  smooth  black  ice.  How  terri- 
bly black  it  was  !  I  remember  how  its  inky  sur- 
face gaped  and  yawned  beneath  me,  and  then, 
with  demoniac  fierceness,  leaped  up  and  wrapped 
me  in  its  Tartarean  folds.  I  seemed  to  be  falling 
through  infinite  space  into  impenetrable  gloom. 
Then  there  was  a  crash.  Evidently  two  planets 
had  collided  and  I  was  somewhere  between  them. 
The  moon  and  stars  had  been  extinguished.  I 
doubted  if  there  was  any  light  left  in  the  universe. 
I  thought  of  the  morning  of  creation,  and  won- 
dered if  the  Divine  command,  '  Let  there  be  light,' 
had  been  suddenly  negatived.  Then  there  came 
a  sense  of  infinite  distance  and  silence  and  rest. 
I  remember  thinking  that  my  playmates  were 
separated  from  me  forever.  I  did  not  seem  to 
care  what  became  of  them  or  of  me.  Then  all 
was  blank.  There  was  no  more  heaven  nor  earth. 
The  waters  of  oblivion  had  covered  me  and  I  was 
no  more.  I  knew  I  was  hurt,  thought  I  was  dead, 
and  was  perfectly  willing  to  have  it  so. 


THE   ORDEAL   OF  " JVO.    I."  233 

"The  next  thing  I  really  remember  was  a  crowd 
of  boys  and  girls  holding  an  impromptu  inquest 
over  a  sadly-battered  corpus  in  the  middle  of  that 
pond.  Tim  was  faithfully  rubbing  snow  on  a  rear 
extremity  of  my  cranium,  about  as  big  as  a  goose's 
egg,  which  I  had  no  recollection  of  possessing  be- 
fore I  lay  down  to  rest.  I  was  stretched  prone  on 
the  ice,  with  my  head  in  somebody's  lap.  Mary 
Jane  was  scattering  snow  upon  my  face  and  beg- 
ging me  to  look  up.  The  others  were  industri- 
ously pinching  whatever  portion  of  my  anatomy 
was  most  convenient,  in  search  of  broken  parts. 
After  a  little  I  sat  up,  and  began  to  feel  around 
after  the  pieces  too.  I  had  a  sort  of  vague  notion 
that  something  had  happened,  but  could  not  re- 
member what.  Somebody  mentioned  skates. 
Then  they  unbuckled  the  new  pair,  one  after  an- 
other, from  my  feet.  I  asked  if  there  had  been  an 
earthquake,  and  inquired  if  Mary  Jane  had  hurt 
herself  getting  off  the  barn.  They  shook  their 
heads  and  whispered  to  each  other.  They  evi- 
dently thought  the  shock  had  affected  my  brain. 
I  knew  better,  so  I  asked  them  to  hand  me  the 
skates.  They  did  so,  and  I  tucked  them  up  over 
my  shoulder  toward  Tim,  who  was  still  manipu- 
lating my  posterior  craniological  annex. 

"  '  Tim,'  said  I,  very  softly  and  weakly. 


234  BLACK  ICE. 

"  '  What  is  it,  Percy  ? '  he  asked.  There  were 
tears  in  the  poor  fellow's  voice. 

"  *  Would  you  like  a  pair  of  skates  ? ' 

"  A  sigh  of  relief  came  from  the  lips  of  Mary  , 
Jane.     She  noted  the  evidence  of  sanity. 

"  '  Yes,  of  course,'  said  Tim,  hesitantly.  Despite 
his  anxiety,  he  could  not  entirely  repress  his 
gratification. 

" '  You  can  have  them  if  you  want  them.' 

"  He  took  them  willingly.  I  was  glad,  for  they 
seemed  very  heavy.  Then  all  was  dark  again. 
There  was  a  sense  of  uneasy  motion.  My  whole 
body  was  full  of  pain.  Then  there  came  a  sense 
of  warmth.  The  smell  of  camphor  was  in  my 
nostrils.  Lights  and  voices  were  around  me.  I 
wished  to  sleep,  and  was  not  allowed  to.  Every 
touch  hurt  me.  Even  the  doctor's  hand  seemed 
clothed  in  mail.  The  glare  of  the  lamp  was  like 
a  sword  thrust  through  my  brain.  The  lightest 
footfall  renewed  the  agony  of  the  catastrophe. 
After  an  age  of  torture  oblivion  came  again.  I 
slept. 

"  I  was  sick  a  good  while  afterward.  There  was 
little  pain,  but  a  terrible  weariness  oppressed  me. 
Little  by  little  I  grew  stronger.  My  playmates 
came  to  visit  and  cheer  me.  For  a  time  Mary 
Jane  came  every  day.     They  told  me  that  during 


THE   ORDEAL   OF  ''NO.    ir  235 

my  long  slumber  she  hardly  left  my  bedside.  Af- 
ter a  while  her  visits  became  less  frequent.  I 
learned  that  Tim  was  making  famous  progress 
with  my  new  skates.  By  and  by  I  heard  that 
Mary  Jane  was  learning  to  skate  too; — she  was 
using  the  skates  I  had  given  Tim,  and  the  grace- 
ful city  boy,  Fred  Compton,  was  teaching  her." 

At  this  point  I  closed  the  portfolio,  and  rising 
from  my  seat,  bowed  to  the  company  in  token  of 
the  fulfillment  of  the  task  assigned  to  "  No.  i." 

There  was  a  hearty  round  of  applause;  for  be- 
sides the  fact  that  little  companies  in  one's  own 
house  are  apt  to  be  very  gracious,  I  also  found 
that  the  recital  of  my  youthful  mishaps  had  won 
for  me  abundant  confirmation  though  but  little 
sympathy.  My  story  seemed  to  have  been  only 
a  portrayal  of  the  common  lot  of  those  who  put 
their  trust  in  skates.  Hester  looked  at  me  with 
a  flush  of  pleasant  surprise,  and  Mrs.  Somers 
lifted  her  eyes  to  my  face  with  a  curious  startled 
look  which  I  could  not  understand.  George  was 
still  watching  her — malignantly,  I  thought.  To 
distract  his  attention,  of  which  I  must  admit  the 
teacher  seemed  entirely  unconscious,  I  said  to 
him  : 

"  A  crack  skater  such  as  I  have  heard  that  you 


236  BLACK  ICE. 

are  ought  at  least  to  have  some  sympathy  for 
the  woes  of  a  lubberly  tyro." 

Before  he  could  answer,  Twining,  who  had  lis- 
tened with  a  tell-tale  sm.ile  of  superiority  upon 
his  lips,  cut  in  with  the  exclamation  : 

"Don't  let  him  play  upon  your  sympathy  in 
that  way,  Mr.  Hartzell.  Wait  till  you  hear  the 
sequel." 

This  raised  a  clamor  among  the  young  people, 
which  was  vigorously  seconded  by  Hartzell.  The 
others  cordially  concurred.  Mrs.  Somers  said 
nothing,  but  gazed  silently  into  the  fire.  Hester's 
face  grew  crimson  to  the  very  roots  of  her  steel- 
gray  hair. 

"  But  you  see  there  is  no  sequel,"  I  said,  hand- 
ing the  portfolio  to  Bertha,  who  was  tugging 
viciously  at  it. 

"  Don't  say  that,  old  fellow,"  said  Twining,  look- 
ing mischievously  at  Hester. 

'*  O,  tell  it,  please  tell  it,  papa,"  said  Bertha, 
clambering  on  my  lap  and  seeking  with  kisses 
to  estop  refusal. 

I  glanced  at  Hester  appealingly. 

"I  suppose  you  may  as  well,"  she  answered, 
with,  a  sigh. 


CHAPTER   XII. 


FOR    A    LADY  S    FAVOR. 


"\  17" HEN  I  finally  received  permission  to  recount 
the  incident  I  had  so  long  threatened  to  re- 
late, I  found  myself  strangely  disinclined  to  enter 
upon  its  narration.  There  was  no  resisting  the 
importunity  of  Bertha,  however,  who  in  her  eager- 
ness to  hear  had  removed  the  ottoman  from  the. 
teacher's  side  and  now  sat  with  her  head  bowed 
upon  my  knees.  So  I  toyed  with  her  unbound 
hair,  and  told  a  story  all  too  true  in  its  elements  to 
need  the  gloss  of  imagination  : 

''It  was  some  years  after  my  first  experience  on 
skates.  I  had  grown  to  be  an  awkward  youth  of 
eighteen  or  thereabouts.  The  Matsons  had  suf- 
fered reverses  and  misfortunes.  Some  had  died, 
and  those  who  remained  had  moved  to  a  village 
home  in  the  intellectual  metropolis  of  the  county, 
twenty  miles  away.  In  this  little  village  of  Cran- 
berg  was  a  prosperous  academy  to  which  the  youth 
of  both  sexes  flocked  from  far  and  near.  It  was 
one  of  those  ganglia  of  intellectual   life  peculiarly 


238  BLACK  ICE. 

characteristic  of  the  period  in  which  it  flourished. 
It  had  grown  out  of  the  actual  wants  of  the  life 
which  surrounded  it  just  as  naturally  as  the  flower- 
bud  bursts  from  the  stalk.  The  rush  of  the  pres- 
ent had  not  yet  seized  upon  our  lives.  The  nar- 
rowness of  the  past  had  just  broken  away.  That 
huge-limbed  giant  whom  we  term  American  Life 
had  lately  risen  out  of  his  cradle,  thrown  aside  his 
swaddling-bands,  and  like  an  infant  Hercules  was 
casting  about  for  those  wonders  which  he  has 
since  performed. 

"  I  was  a  student  at  this  academy.  I  met  there 
a  boy  named  Jack  Twining,  who  by  mere  chance 
became  my  room-mate.  He  was  a  slender,  girlish 
felio-.v,  whom  you  would  never  have  suspected  of 
any  intention  of  growing  such  a  beard  as  he  is 
now  caressing."  (The  company  laughed  good- 
naturedly,  and  Jack  dropped  the  hand  with  which 
he  had  stroked  his  beard  while  listening.  Bobby 
took  advantage  of  the  interruption  to  clamber  up- 
on Hester's  lap,  where  he  was  soon  fast  asleep.) 
"  Fred  Compton  was  the  pet  of  the  professors  and 
the  pride  of  the  institution.  He  had  grown  to 
young  manhood  an  Adonis  in  form  and  feature. 
He  excelled  in  most  of  our  athletic  sports,  and  was 
easily  first  in  his  classes.  Jack  had  a  great  admi- 
ration for  him.     I  hated  him — perhaps  on  account 


FOR  A    LADY'S  FAVOR.  239 

of  Mary  Jane — and  desired  nothing  in  the  world 
as  much  as  a  good  excuse  for  whipping  him.  I 
was  sure  the  opportunity  would  some  time  come, 
and  equally  certain  that  when  it  did  I  should  em- 
brace it  eagerly.  Jack  was  very  doubtful  about  the 
result, — at  least  he  pretended  to  be, — and  whenever 
Compton  had  shown  his  skill  in  wrestling,  or  had 
beaten  everybody  at  the  run  and  jump,  which  he 
always  did.  Jack  used  to  beg  me  to  forego  my 
cherished  ambition.  I  had  set  my  head  on  hum- 
bling the  pride  of  my  handsome  boyhood  rival, 
however,  and  every  fresh  success  of  his  only  in- 
creased my  anxiety  to  match  my  strength  against 
his  skill. 

"I  do  not  believe  it  was  merely  because  of  the 
old  grudge,  still  less  was  it  because  in  most  things 
I  was  the  antipode  of  this  young  Antinous.  As  I 
have  said,  he  was  a  city  boy  who  had  come  into 
our  country  neighborhood  the  adopted  son  of  a 
rich  uncle,  who  had  not  unfrequently  paraded  in  an 
offensive  manner  the  fact  of  his  prospective  wealth. 
Perhaps  his  city  manners,  or  the  consciousness  of  a 
lack  of  outward  refinement  on  our  part,  increased 
the  sting  of  his  superciliousness  to  us  country 
boys.  He  had  always  made  a  special  butt  of  me. 
I  did  not  mind  his  laughing  at  my  uncouthness  as 
much  as  might  be  supposed,  for  I  had  always  been 


240  BLACK  ICE, 

given  to  understand  that  beauty  was  not  one  of 
my  strong  points.  Some  slurs  that  he  had  flung 
at  my  father's  occupation  had,  foolishly  enough, 
no  doubt,  cut  me  to  the  quick  even  before  the  epi- 
sode with  Mary  Jane. 

"  My  father,  as  you  know,  at  one  time  worked 
at  the  coopering  trade.  Being  of  a  mechanical 
turn  of  mind,  he  had  taken  up  this  occupation 
as  the  readiest  method  of  earning  a  livelihood 
after  suffering  financial  reverses  in  that  wonder- 
ful'East'  which  was  the  fairyland  of  my  youth- 
ful dreams.  Among  the  pleasantest  recollections 
of  my  childhood  is  the  cosy  shop  flanked  by  piles 
of  seasoning  staves,  oak  and  pine,  while  on  each 
side  of  its  creaking  door  were  great  heaps  of 
shavings,  broad,  white,  and  fragrant,  among  which 
the  children  of  the  neighborhood  delighted  to  dis- 
port themselves.  As  I  grew  older  the  farm  had  be- 
come of  more  and  more  importance,  and  the  shop 
diminished  in  glory.  A  few  years  previous  to  my 
advent  at  Cranberg  Academy  my  father  became 
convinced  that  tubs  and  barrels  miglit  be  made  by 
machinery,  and  had  devised  a  set  of  machines 
which  performed  in  a  very  creditable  manner  much 
of  the  most  difficult  and  laborious  part  of  the  coop- 
er's work.  These  lucky  inventions  at  once  trans- 
formed the  shop  into  a  factory,  elevated  my  father 


FOR  A   LADY'S  FAVOR.  241 

to  the  dignity  of  a  manufacturer  and  dealer  in 
*  heads  and  staves,'  which  he  supplied  by  the 
cargo  to  the  trade.  This  era  of  prosperity  was 
fast  preparing  the  humble  homestead  for  the  lux- 
ury and  ostentation  which  the  railroad  was  rapidly 
bringing  westward.  To  this  fact  I  suppose  my 
appearance  at  Cranberg  ought  really  to  be  credit- 
ed. I  had  outgrown  the  educational  opportuni- 
ties of  the  region  where  we  dwelt,  and  the  ambi- 
tion of  a  prosperous  father  no  doubt  looked 
forward  to  a  fulfillment  of  its  dreams  in  the  life  of 
an  only  son.  It  was  a  great  thing  for  a  boy  to 
have  the  advantage  of  a  classical  education  in 
those  days,  and  I  ought  to  have  remembered 
gratefully  the  trade  to  which  my  enjoyment  of 
this  privilege  was  due.  Instead  of  doing  so,  I 
must  confess  that  the  old  shop,  with  all  its  pleas- 
ant memories,  was  the  one  fly  in  my  pot  of  oint- 
ment. I  was  very  angry,  therefore,  when  I  learned 
that  Fred  Compton,  who  had  been  for  two  years 
a  student  at  Cranberg  Academy,  hearing  of  my 
advent  there,  had   sneeringly  remarked: 

'''Percy  Reynolds?  O,  yes,  I  remember  him. 
His  father  was  a  cooper.' 

"This  was  an  insult  I  could  not  forgive,  and 
coming  as  it  did  on  the  top  of  other  offenses,  I  de- 
termined to  settle  them  all  at  once,  and  teach  him 


2^2  BLACK  ICE. 

it  was  not  for  naught  that  my  father  followed  a 
hammering  trade.  But  for  Jack  I  think  there 
would  have  been  a  fight  that  very  day.  His  inter- 
cession prevented  an  immediate  rupture,  but  every 
day  strengthened  my  determination.  The  summer 
and  autumn  terms  had  passed,  and  still  there  had 
been  no  open  rupture  between  Fred  Compton  and 
myself.  The  winter  had  come,  and  the  sluggish 
river  that  spread  itself  out  below  the  little  town 
was  covered  with  its  first  coat  of  dark  glare  ice. 
It  was  Saturday  afternoon,  and  I  was  tired  with  the 
week's  study.  It  was  nearly  sundown,  when,  look- 
ing out  of  my  window,  I  saw  a  single  skater  buck- 
ling the  polished  steel  to  his  feet  on  the  dark 
smooth  surface  of  the  river.  I  knew  him  in  an  in- 
stant, and  was  at  once  affected  with  a  burning  de- 
sire to  measure  myself  with  Fred  Compton  on 
that  element  where  I  had  met  with  such  inglorious 
defeat  at  his  hands.  Since  that  time  I  had  learned 
to  skate.  The  chagrin  of  failure  had  stimulated 
application  until  I  had  become  so  expert  that  I 
hardly  feared  any  competitor.  I  knew  that  he 
was  prouder  of  his  skill  in  this  direction  than  of  al- 
most any  other  accomplishment. 

"Jack  spent  his  Saturdays  at  home,  so  I  was 
alone.  I  did  not  wait  to  combat  my  inclination. 
In  five  minutes  I  was  kneeling  on  the  ice,  tugging 


FOR  A   LADY'S  FAVOR.  243 

away  at  my  skate-straps,  and  glancing  now  and 
then  at  the  lithe  form  of  my  opponent.  He  was 
taking  little  turns  up  and  down  the  river,  like  a 
wing-footed  Mercury  trying  his  pinions  before  at- 
tempting a  prolonged  flight.  He  noticed  me  in 
one  of  these,  and  came  gliding  easily  past  just  as  I 
had  finished  fastening  my  skates  and  was  making 
those  first  strokes  with  which  one  unconsciously 
tries  the  straps  and  ascertains  the  exact  positions 
of  the  blades  beneath  his  feet. 

"  *  Hello,  Reynolds! '  he  exclaimed,  as  he  drew 
near,  his  feet  exactly  parallel,  his  body  motionless, 
the  impetus  of  his  last  stroke  and  the  pressure  of 
the  light  wind  which  blew  up  the  stream  bearing 
him  smoothly  and  steadily  towards  me,  until,  on 
arriving  almost  within  arm's  length,  an  impercep- 
tible motion  of  the  heels  turned  him  to  the  right, 
and  brought  him  to  a  standstill  hardly  ten  feet 
away.  I  thought  his  tones  expressed  something  of 
surprise,  and  I  exulted  in  the  thought  of  what 
awaited  him  when  he  should  see  what  I  really 
could  do.  The  stooping,  uncertain  position  which 
the  skater  always  assumes  while  trying  the  skates 
he  has  just  put  on  gave  no  indication  of  my 
powers. 

"  '  I  declare!'  he  continued  in  a  tone  of  sneering 
incredulity;  'you  have  got  so  that  you  can  stand 


244  BLACK  ICE. 

on  skates,  haven't  you?  The  last  time  I  saw  you 
make  the  attempt,  you  came  to  grief  from  not  hav- 
ing your  head  padded.' 

"  He  gave  a  quiet,  exasperating  laugh.  I  suppose 
my  face  must  have  flushed.  I  was  determined  not 
to  show  anger,  however,  so  I  answered  with  ap- 
parent good-nature: 

"*Yes;  but  you  know  a  bad  beginning  makes  a 
good  ending.' 

"'Do  you  think  so?'  he  replied.  '  Well,  I  ad- 
mire your  pluck.  It  must  require  a  good  deal  of 
faith.' 

'''Why  so?'  I  asked. 

"  *  Because  you  will  be  gray  before  you  are  a 
good  skater.' 

"  He  laughed  at  the  taunt,  and  I  laughed  too, 
with  exultation  at  the  thought  of  the  surprise  that 
awaited  him.     So  I  answered  jocularly: 

" '  Perhaps.  This  is  the  first  time  I  have  been 
out  this  winter;  but  seeing  you  on  the  ice,  I 
thought  I  would  come  down  and  give  you  a 
lesson  in  their  use.* 

"'Me?' 

"I  laughed  outright  at  the  incredulity  of  his 
tone,  and  answered  mockingly: 

"  '  You,  my  lord.' 

"'You  don't  know  what  you  are  talkmg  about, 
Perce  Reynolds,'  was  his  testy  rejoinder. 


FOR  A   LADY'S  FAVOR.  245 

"  *  Perhaps  not/  I  said;  '  but  I  mean  to  find  out.' 

"'Do  you  know,' said  he,  boastfully,  *  that  no- 
body has  cut  the  ice  across  my  track  for  years  ?' 

" '  That  may  be,'  I  replied;  *  but  I  expect  to  do  it 
to-night.' 

"  '  You !  '  he  sneered.  '  You  couldn't  keep  within 
sound  of  my  skates  if  you  were  to  practice  until 
doomsday.  A  fellow  of  your  build  can't  skate.  A 
neck  like  a  bull  and  legs  like  a  gatepost  may  make 
a  good  cooper,  but  they  don't  make  a  good  skater. 
I  should  think  your  first  experience  would  have 
taught  you  that.' 

"  While  we  talked  we  had  been  moving  about, 
half  unconsciously.  The  ice,  which  was  tough  and 
smooth,  was  none  too  thick.  It  bent  and  cracked 
beneath  our  weight  in  a  manner  that  would  have 
seemed  threatening  to  persons  not  well  accustomed 
to  the  freaks  of  black  ice.  We  hardly  noticed  it. 
I  suppose  if  we  thought  of  the  ice  at  all,  it  was 
only  that  it  was  in  the  most  perfect  condition  for  a 
race.  Compton,  as  I  have  said,  was  a  graceful  fel- 
low, and  the  ease  with  which  he  moved  about  dur- 
ing our  little  colloquy  must  have  been  in  striking 
contrast  with  my  own  awkwardness  and  con- 
straint. I  fully  appreciated  the  taunt  he  aimed  at 
my  thick  neck  and  disproportionate  weight  of 
limb.  Yet  it  was  upon  these  very  qualities  that  I 
relied  for  success.     I  was,  perhaps,  unable  to  skate 


246  BLACK  ICE. 

as  easily,  and  certainly  could  not  move  as  lightly 
and  gracefully  upon  the  ice  as  he;  but  the  weight  I 
carried  was  muscle,  and  the  added  power  more 
than  made  up,  as  I  believed,  whatever  advantage  he 
might  have  over  me  in  litheness  of  limb  and  dex- 
terity of  movement.  Nevertheless,  the  shaft 
struck,  and  I  answered  somewhat  sulkily: 

"  '  Well,  you  see  it  didn't.' 

"'So  it  seems,'  he  replied  jauntily;  'and  you 
have  come  out  to-night  to  match  yourself  against 
me,  I  suppose.' 

"  '  Exactly,'  I  replied. 

"  '  It  is  a  pity  it  is  so  late,'  he  responded. 

"'Why  so?' 

" '  O,  nothing;  but  I  should  like  to  have  the 
town  see  how  I  am  going  to  treat  you.' 

"'Never  mind,'  I  replied;  'you  may  pray  for 
darkness  before  it  comes,  yet.' 

"'Fudge! 'he  sneered.  'What  do  you  propose 
to  do,  anyhow  ?' 

"'To  follow  your  lead,'  I  replied,  'and  ring 
your  tracks  so  often  that  you  will  think  you  never 
learned  to  skate  at  all.' 

"'Well,'  said  he,  impatiently,  'if  nothing  but  a 
race  will  satisfy  you,  let's  fix  the  terms.' 

"  '  All  right.' 

"  '  Which  way  shall  we  go,  up  or  down  ? ' 


FOR  A   LADY'S  FAVOR.  247 

"'Just  as  you  choose.' 

'' '  The  ice  is  likely  to  be  the  best  up  stream,  and 
the  wind,  what  there  is  of  it,  is  that  way  too.' 

"  '  Up  stream  it  is,  then.' 

"'How  far?' 

"  '  As  far  as  you  choose,  and  back  again.* 

"  '  Nothing  could  please  me  better;  but  we  must 
have  limits,  so  that  there  will  be  no  dodging.  I 
don't  mean  to  let  you  go  back  and  brag  about 
what  you  might  have  done  if  I  had  kept  on  skating 
all  night.' 

"'Suit  yourself,'  I  replied;  'I  don't  want  any 
doubt  about  the  result.' 

" '  Well,'  he  said,  as  he  glanced  up  the  river, 
*  what  shall  we  make  the  goal  ? ' 

"  For  nearly  a  mile  above  the  town  the  course  of 
the  river  was  almost  straight.  The  sun,  now  near 
its  setting,  shone  through  a  cloud-rift,  and  lighted 
up  like  burnished  gold  the  sheet  of  glare  ice  that 
lay  between  the  low  dark  banks.  A  mile  away  the 
stream  veered  sharply  to  the  left,  and  a  huge  syca- 
m-ore  stood  out  upon  the  other  shore,  directly  op- 
posite the  middle  of  the  channel.  Its  great  white 
bole  showed  clearly  against  the  dark  body  of  the 
forest  beyond. 

"'How  would  the  big  sycamore  do?'  I  sug- 
gested. , 


218  BLACK  ICE. 

"  He  shook  his  head  by  way  of  reply. 

"'We  must  have  something  that  we  can  skate 
clear  around  or  actually  touch.' 

"  We  scanned  the  smooth  expanse  in  search  of 
something  that  might  serve  our  purpose.  Save  a 
few  stones  near  the  shore  which  the  urchins  of 
the  village  had  thrown  upon  the  ice  to  test  its 
strength,  it  was  absolutely  bare.  The  river  had 
not  yet  been  pronounced  safe,  and  the  children 
had  been  rigorously  forbidden  to  venture  upon 
it.  As  it  was  in  plain  view  from  almost  every 
house  in  the  village,  this  injunction  had  been 
carefully  observed.  We  were  almost  the  first 
skaters  who  had  cut  the  smooth,  dark  surface. 
While  we  gazed,  another  shot  out  from  behind  the 
point  above.  It  was  a  lady,  tall  and  graceful,  as 
we  could  see  even  at  that  distance.  I  had  no  sus- 
picion who  it  might  be  until  I  saw  the  flush  come 
over  Compton's  face.  Ladies  who  could  skate 
were  very  rare  in  that  day, 

"  *  Gad  ! '  he  exclaimed  admiringly,  '  she  moves 
nicely,  don't  she  ?  Bet  your  life  she's  cut  ice  be- 
fore, and  under  a  good  master  too.' 

"There  was  no  mistaking  the  exultant  leer  with 
which  he  turned  toward  me  as  he  uttered  those 
words.  He  had  evidently  recognized  his  own 
pupil  —  the  little  girl  -  sweetheart  he  had  stolen 
away  from  me. 


FOR  A   LADY'S  FAVOR.  249 

"  During  the  two  terms  I  had  been  at  Cran- 
berg,  I  had  often  met  Mary  Matson,  —  the  Jane 
had  been  elided  by  common  consent, — and  we  had, 
.n  a  measure,  renewed  the  intimacy  of  our  child- 
hood. They  lived  at  the  upper  end  of  the  village, 
and  kept  boarders  —  students  who  attended  the 
academy.  Her  mother,  younger  sister,  and  her- 
self constituted  the  family.  The  father  was  dead. 
So  were  the  other  sisters.  Tim  had  gone  to  the 
West  to  seek  his  fortune.  Mary  had  managed,  by 
taking  one  or  two  classes,  not  only  to  attend  to 
her  duties  as  the  head  of  the  household,  but  also 
to  become  one  of  the  most  accomplished  students 
in  the  institution.  She  had  grown  into  a  beauti- 
ful young  woman,  slender  and  fair,  with  all  the 
charm  of  her  childish  tenderness  and  devotion 
to  the  happiness  of  others.  Our  acquaintance 
had  not  been  renewed  without  mutual  embarrass- 
ment. I  watched  the  fair  girl  from  a  distance  for 
many  a  day  before  I  ventured  to  claim  the  privi- 
lege  of  an  old-time  friendship.  I  was  shy  as 
well  as  awkward.  One  afternoon  at  recreation 
hour,  however,  when  the  rules  of  the  institution 
permitted,  I  mustered  up  courage  and  called 
at  the  Matsons'.  She  received  me  as  simply  as 
if  we  had  parted  but  the  day  before,  only  say- 
ing : 


260  BLACK  ICE. 

*'*  I  began  to  think  you  were  not  coming.* 
"The  reproach  in  her  tones  covered  me  with 
confusion  ;  but  her  words  implied  that  she  had 
thought  of  my  coming,  which  gave  me  pleasure. 
I  was  soon  at  ease  in  her  society.  No  other 
reference  was  ever  made  to  the  rupture  of  our 
childish  relations.  So  far  as  broken  links  in  the 
chain  of  friendship  can  be  repaired,  ours  was 
again  united.  I  felt  the  old-time  peace  and  re- 
pose in  her  presence,  and  soon  began  to  think  of 
her  with  some  of  the  old  exclusiveness  of  feeling. 
She  was  a  great  favorite  in  the  village  and  among 
the  students,  as  it  was  natural  that  she  should 
be,  having  both  beauty  and  mental  attainments. 
In  those  days  and  in  that  region  wealth  was  little 
thought  of  in  connection  with  social  position. 
Indeed,  it  may  be  doubted  if  the  few  young  peo- 
ple who  possessed  it  did  not  really  find  it  a  detri- 
ment. In  the  school  all  met  upon  a  level.  Comp- 
ton  and  one  or  two  others  gave  themselves  airs 
sometimes,  upon  the  strength  of  expected  inherit- 
ances, but  the  fact  excited  more  ridicule  than 
envy, 

"  The  Matsons,  thanks  to  Mary's  good  manage- 
ment, made  a  fair  livelihood,  and  were  all  the 
more  respected  for  their  industry  and  economy. 
Her    many   admirers,    no    doubt,    made    my   shy 


FOR  A   LADY'S  FAVOR.  251 

attentions  seem  to  her  but  casual  courtesies.  I 
do  not  think  she  had  once  thought  of  me  as  a 
lover,  though  I  had  grown  to  dream  of  that  rela- 
tion. I  had  heard  it  vaguely  rumored  among 
the  students  that  Compton,  when  he  first  came 
to  the  academy,  had  shown  her  very  marked 
attention.  Since  that  time  he  had  become  a 
general  beau,  and  almost  every  girl  in  the  vil- 
lage having  any  special  attractions  had  been 
at  one  time  or  another  the  focus  of  his  at- 
tention. His  name  had  not  been  mentioned 
between  Mary  and  myself,  but  I  had  an  imipres- 
bion  that  she  had  expected  more  than  she  had 
received  from  him.  His  attentions  must  have 
been  very  marked,  for,  even  in  that  society  where 
gossip  had  little  foothold,  her  name  was  still 
linked  with  his  in  a  way  it  often  made  my  blood 
boil  to  hear.  It  seemed  to  be  thought  that  he 
had  only  to  reach  out  his  hand  to  secure  that 
as  well  as  other  prizes.  This  was  the  unmistak- 
able language  of  the  leer  upon  his  handsome  face 
as  he  turned  it  toward  me  and  said  : 

"  '•  The  very  thing.     Let's  make  her  the  goal.' 
"  The  look  and  tone  enraged  me.     The  idea  of 
mixing  her  up  with  our  contest  seemed  little  less 
than  sacrilege.     So  I  made  haste  to  object. 
*' '  She  is  moving,'  I  urged. 


252  BLACK  ICE. 

"'What  if  she  is?'  he  sneered.  'It  is  not  the 
first  time  you  have  run  after  her.' 

"  '  But  what  if  she  should  leave  the  river  ? '  I 
asked,  restraining  myself  with  difficulty. 

"  '  Why,  we  will  leave  it  too.  I  suppose  you 
can  run  if  you  can't  skate.' 

" '  Very  w^ell,'  I  said  ;  '  if  it  suits  you  I  will  not 
object.' 

'' '  Suppose  we  make  these  the  terms,  then,' 
said  he  :  '  the  one  who  first  touches  her  hand, 
no  matter  where,  to  be  acknowledged  the  victor ; 
or  if  one  shall  fairly  ring  the  other's  track  be- 
fore overtaking  her,  the  defeated  one  shall  not 
put  on  skates  again  this  winter.' 

"'AH  right,'  said  I. 

"His  eyes  were  full  of  triumph,  and  he  laughed 
exultantly  as  he  continued  : 

"'There  ought  to  be  a  wager,  just  to  make  it 
a  race,  you  know.     Suppose  we  make  a  bet  ? ' 

"  He  was  a  gambler  by  nature.  I  had  never 
made  a  bet  in  my  life,  but  I  w^ould  have  staked 
my  soul  against  a  pinch  of  dust  on  the  result. 

"'Name  your  wager,'  said  I. 

"'The  lady's  favor,'  he  said,  weaving  his  hand 
toward  the  figure  upon  the  ice,  and  waiting  for 
my  answer. 

"  '  Confound   your    impudence  ! '     I    burst    out. 


FOR  A   LADY'S  FAVOR.  253 

'  Bet  something  you  possess,  and  do  not  make 
a  wager  of  what  you  may  not  win  and  never 
will   deserve.' 

''  He  laughed  loud  and  mockingly  at  my  an- 
gry words. 

"  '  So,  so,'  he  said  ;  '  he  hasn't  forgotten  his  lit- 
tle sweetheart  yet.  Very  well.  If  our  knight  is 
so  tetchy,  let  us  make  the  wager  not  the  lady's 
favor,  but  the  right  to  sue  for  it.  If  I  win  the 
race,  you  shall  not  seek  her  until  I  fail ;  and  if 
you  win,  ha  !  ha  !  I  give  you  a  clear  field  with 
no  limitations.' 

"'Done,'  said  I,  holding  out  my  hand. 

"'AH  right,'  said  he,  just  touching  my  palm 
with  the  tips  of  his  fingers.  '  Let  us  skate  down 
the  river  a  little  way  to  get  our  distances,  say 
five  steps  apart,  then  turn,  come  easily  up  until 
the  flag-pole  is  in  a  line  with  the  academy 
steeple,  and  then  off,  and  neither  to  attempt  to 
cross  the  other's  track  unless  he  has  gained  ten 
strokes  ahead.  If  you  ring  my  track,  or  I  yours, 
before  we  reach  the  goal,  that  ends  the  race. 
If  not,  the  one  who  first  touches  her  hand  to  be 
the  winner,' 

"I  assented.  We  wheeled  down  stream  by  a 
simultaneous  motion,  went  perhaps  a  hundred 
yards   with    easy   strokes,    and    returned    in    like 


254:  BLACK  ICE. 

manner.      The   ice   creaked    beneath   our    skates, 
and  we  felt  the  spring  of  the  imprisoned  waters. 
As  we   neared   the   starting  point,  both  kept   our 
eyes  fixed  upon  the  prescribed  objects,  and  both 
at  the  same  instant  shouted,  '  Now  ! '     There  was 
a  sudden  spring  upon  the  part  of  each  that  bent 
the  ice,  and    sent  a  sharp,  shrill  report   like    the 
crack   of   a    rifle    echoing    from    shore    to    shore. 
Neither    got    the    advantage    in     the     send-off. 
There    was     hardly    an     inch     difference    in    the 
length  of  our  first    strokes.     I   think  both   of  us 
w^ere  disappointed.     Each  had  counted  on  getting 
the  lead  at  the  outset,  and  we  scanned  each  other 
curiously   as   we   settled    down  to  work.      For   a 
time    we    struck    as    fast    and    hard    as    possible, 
but     neither     gained    an     inch.      Gradually    our 
strokes  lessened  in  rapidity.    We  leaned  forward, 
scanning  the   ice   carefully  in  our  front,  to  avoid 
accident.     Stroke  answered  stroke  on  the  singing 
ice,   with  equal  effect  and  unflagging  regularity. 
The   clang   of   our   skates    echoed   from  the  low, 
dark    banks.      We   were    half   way   to    the   point 
above  the  village  before  I  had  a  chance  to  note 
what  progress  we  had  made.     Neither  had  gained 
any  advantage;   but  as  I  caught   his  eye  I   saw 
that  he  had  lost  nothing  of  the  confidence  with 
which  he  started.      I    wore   a   light   frock   belted 


FOR  A    LADY'S  FAVOR.  255 

around  the  waist ;  he  an  easy-fitting  coat  but- 
toned close.  Our  animated  goal  had  passed  out 
of  sight  around  the  headland. 

"All  at  once  it  occurred  to  me  that  the  terms 
he  had  proposed  were  intended  to  put  me  at 
a  disadvantage.  The  lady  was  an  accomplished 
skater.  The  fact  that  she  was  alone,  upon  ice 
generally  regarded  as  unsafe,  showed  her  con- 
fidence in  her  own  powers.  Judging  from  the 
rate  at  which  she  had  crossed  the  river,  it 
was  quite  possible  that  she  might  be  the  equal 
of  either  of  us  for  a  short  distance.  She  evi- 
dently had  not  seen  us,  and  had  turned  back 
up  the  river  unconscious  of  our  pursuit.  It 
flashed  upon  me,  as  I  thought  of  these  things, 
that  Compton  counted  somewhat  upon  his  abil- 
ity to  control  the  movements  of  this  skater,  the 
touch  of  whose  hand  was  to  decide  the  strug- 
gle. At  the  rate  we  were  going  both  were 
certain  to  be  very  much  exhausted  when  we 
should  near  the  object  of  our  pursuit.  A  single 
stroke,  one  turn  of  the  ankle,  aye,  even  the  scrap- 
ing of  a  heel,  upon  her  part,  might  incline  her  to 
one  side  or  the  other,  and  determine  the  contest 
in  his  favor  or  mine.  I  did  not  state  the  al- 
ternative to  myself,  for  I  had  no  hope  that,  see- 
ing us  both,  flushed  and  panting,  suddenly  rushing 


256  BLACK  ICE, 

toward  her,  she  would  think  of  turning  to  me 
rather  than  to  him.  I  knew  that  my  dark  and 
angry  face  would  terrify,  and  his  fair  face  and 
smiling  lips  attract. 

"  The  conditions  were  well  calculated  to  favor 
this  piece  of  trickery.  I  could  not  cross  his  track 
unless  I  had  gained  ten  strokes  upon  him  with- 
out violating  the  terms  we  had  agreed  upon. 
If  I  should  be  five  strokes  ahead  and  he  should 
call  to  her  on  any  pretense  to  come  toward  him, 
I  could  not  cross  the  line  of  his  course  even 
to  intercept  her  without  willfully  violating  the 
agreement.  As  I  thought  it  over  I  was  sure 
that  he  intended  as  a  last  resort,  if  need  be, 
to  make  some  sign  or  utter  some  word  that 
should  control  or  affect  her  movements  favor- 
ably to  himself.  It  seemed  to  me  that  my  only 
hope  was  to  gain  ten  strokes  upon  him  before 
we  came  near  enough  to  enable  him  to  carry 
this  plan  into  execution.  I  redoubled  my  efforts, 
but  without  avail.  Step  by  step,  v/ith  even 
stroke,  he  answered  my  most  strenuous  exer- 
tion. Now  and  then  I  led,  as  a  racing  man 
would  say,  by  a  head,  and  a  moment  after  he 
would  be  half  a  stroke  in  advance. 

''The  glimmer  of  the  sunshine  faded  from  the  ice 
just  as  we  turned  the  point.     Here  the  advantage 


FOR  A   LADY'S  FAVOR.  257 

would  have  been  with  me,  since  I  was  upon  the 
inside,  had  not  a  glance  up  the  river  shown  the 
lady  to  be  close  in  shore  beyond  another  point 
where  the  river  turned  again  to  the  right.  We 
checked  our  speed  a  little  after  passing  the  point, 
but  skate  still  answered  skate,  and  the  heavy 
breathing  of  each  told  the  other  that  the  run  had 
not  been  accomplished  without  exhausting  effort. 
Almost  as  we  caught  sight  of  her  our  goal  dis- 
appeared again  around  the  headland.  After  we 
reached  this  curve  we  saw  her  half  a  mile  away, 
spinning  across  a  level  reach  of  the  river  direct- 
ly toward  the  mouth  of  a  smaller  stream  that 
emptied  into  it  from  the  right.  A  bold  promon- 
tory jutted  out  between  them.  I  remembered 
that  the  deepest  pool  upon  the  river  was  said 
to  be  just  where  the  two  currents  m.ingled. 
The  streams,  after  flowing  almost  side  by  side 
for  miles,  hemmed  in  by  ranges  of  slaty  hills 
on  either  hand,  just  here  became  one,  cutting  a 
deep  and  narrow  passage  through  the  rocky 
barrier.  Through  this  passage  the  water  rushed 
so  fiercely,  during  the  spring  and  autumn  fresh- 
ets, that  it  received  the  name  of  '  The  Whirl- 
pool' 

"  Toward    this  point  the   gray-clad    skater   was 
advancing    at    a    rate    fully   equal    to    our    own. 
17 


258  BLACK  ICE. 

Evidently  the  long  open  stretch  had  tempted  her 
to  a  burst  of  speed  much  greater  than  she  had 
before  displayed.  She  was  racing  with  her- 
self, while  we  were  racing  after  her.  She  was 
already  half  way  to  the  whirlpool.  All  at  once 
it  occurred  to  me  that  she  had  forgotten  the 
fact,  or  perhaps  had  never  known  it,  that  the 
ice  was  always  much  thinner  over  this  deep  and 
narrow  portion  of  the  river  than  elsewhere  along 
the  course.  I  think  my  heart  stopped  beating 
as  the  terror  of  her  situation  forced  itself  upon 
me.  I  could  hardly  speak  for  want  of  breath, 
but  I   did  manage  to  exclaim : 

*' '  My  God  !  she  will  be  drowned.  Let's  stop 
and  call  to  her.' 

"  His  only  reply  was  a  smile  of  contempt.  He 
evidently  thought  my  proposition  a  mere  sub- 
terfuge.    Perhaps  he  knew  nothing  of  the  danger. 

"If  there  had  been  any  hope  of  attracting  her 
attention  I  should  have  stopped  and  shouted 
even  then.  But  I  could  not  have  made  myself 
heard  over  half  the  intervening  distance.  My 
chest  seemed  bound  with  iron  ;  my  head  burst- 
ing with  pain.  My  breath  came  in  short,  la- 
bored gasps.  The  pace  at  which  we  had  come 
was  killing,  and  I  could  hear  that  Compton  was 
as  badly  blown  as   I.     Yet  we   kept   stroke,   step 


FOR  A   LADY'S  FAVOR.  259 

for  step,  foot  for  foot,  and  neither  gained  upon 
the  other. 

"All  at  once  a  mountain  seemed  lifted  from 
my  brain.  My  eyes,  which  had  been  barely  able 
to  discern  the  skater  we  pursued,  now  saw, 
even  in  the  dusky  shadow  of  the  wooded  banks, 
the  flash  of  her  skates  and  every  motion  of  her 
graceful  form.  My  breath  came  easily  ;  my 
limbs  were  no  longer  heavy,  and  my  feet  seemed 
light  as  air.  For  a  moment  I  could  not  under- 
stand this  sudden  change.  Then  I  felt  some- 
thing clogging  my  breath,  and  looking  down 
saw  that  blood  was  streaming  from  my  nose. 
This  sudden  relief  of  the  overcharged  blood- 
vessels of  the  brain  was  like  an  infusion  of  new 
strength.  For  the  first  time  I  shot  visibly  and 
easily  ahead  of  my  competitor.  One,  two,  three, 
I  counted  the  strokes  that  carried  me  from  him. 
I  heard  his  labored  breathing  grow  more  indis- 
tinct. But  I  had  forgotten  all  about  our  strug- 
gle. I  was  striving  almost  superhumanly  to 
reach  the  goal,  but  all  thought  of  our  foolish 
race  and  still  more  foolish  wager  had  been  driv- 
en from  my  mind  by  the  danger  which  threat- 
ened her  a  touch  of  whose  hand  was  to  decide 
both.     I  saw  her  nearing  the  mouth  of  the  defile. 

"She  was  hardly  a   hundred  yards  in  advance 


260  BLACK  ICE. 

of  me,  and  rapidly  approaching  the  narrowest 
part.  A  Imndred  yards  farther  and  I  was  sure 
the  ice  would  be  unsafe  even  for  her  light 
weight.  She  moved  somewhat  more  slowly  after 
entering  the  chasm,  not  apparently  from  any 
apprehension,  but  because  she  was  impressed 
by  the  grandeur  and  solemnity  of  the  surround- 
ings. I  expected  every  instant  to  see  her  dis- 
appear. Ah,  how  my  feet  consumed  the  inter- 
vening distance  !  I  tried  to  shout  a  warning,  but 
my  lip  could  not  utter  a  sound  above  a  whis- 
per. Every  stroke  brought  her  nearer  and 
nearer  to  destruction.  If  she  reached  the  upper 
edge  of  the  chasm  and  the  ice  broke  beneath 
her,  the  current  would  be  sure  to  bear  her  down 
under  the  frozen  surface  to  a  hopeless  doom. 
The  only  chance  was  for  me  to  catch  her, 
wheel  suddenly  about  and  speed  away  from  the 
dano-erous  rep'ion.  I  had  never  skated  as  I  did 
those  few  last  strokes.  Every  muscle  v/as  like 
a  spring  of  steel.  Each  stroke  seemed  equal  to 
half  a  dozen  of  the  best  I  had  ever  made  before. 
My  skates  hardly  appeared  to  touch  the  smooth, 
dark  surface  that  covered  the  deep,  still  v/aters. 
Every  instant  hope  and  fear  Vv'^ere  alternating  up- 
permost. I  felt  the  ice  bending  beneath  my  feet. 
I  redoubled  my  exertion.  Another  stroke,  hardly 
two,  and  I  would  bear  her  back  to  safety  ! 


FOR  A   LADY'S  FAVOR.  261 

"She  was  scarcely  five  yards  in  front  of  me,  and 
already  my  arm  was  outstretched  to  clasp  her 
waist,  when  suddenly  she  turned  her  head.  I 
saw  a  look  of  mortal  terror  come  into  her  eyes 
as  they  fell  upon  me.  She  sprang  quickly  for- 
ward, shrieking  with  fright.  The  sight  of  her 
face,  pale  with  terror,  for  an  instant  paralyzed 
my  brain.  I  could  do  nothing — think  of  nothing 
— to  avert  the  catastrophe  which  I  knew  im- 
pended. There  was  a  sharp  crackling  sound,  fol- 
lowed by  a  sudden  splash.  The  overweighted 
ice  shivered  in  all  directions  as  she  fell  prone 
upon  its  surface.  The  momentum  I  had  acquired 
would  not  have  permitted  me  to  stop  if  I  had 
wished  to  do  so,  but  I  had  no  thought  except 
to  reach  the  sinking  form.  I  did  not  think  of 
danger,  nor  even  of  the  means  of  extricating  her 
from  peril.  I  only  thought  that  if  I  could  reach 
her  before  she  sank  and  the  cruel  black  water 
sucked  her  under,  I  might  do  something — I  knew 
not  what — to  save  her.  My  last  stroke  was  a  leap 
from  the  sinking  ice-floe  into  the  v/aters,  that 
already  reached  my  knees,  toward  her  swiftly- 
disappearing  form. 

"  I  hardly  know  what  happened  afterward. 
I  was  in  the  water,  clutching  wildly  in  the  dark- 
ness after  something.     Luckily  I  had  not  missed 


262  BLACK  ICE. 

my    aim.      That    last   spring    brought    me    within 
reach  of  her  sinking  form.     I  saw  her  white  face 
disappear    beneath    the    black    water,     and     my 
right    hand    shot    down    in    swift    pursuit.       The 
impulse    of    the    fall,    even    more    than    the    fixed 
purpose    to  rescue,  carried    me   under.     My  hand 
touched  her  clothing,  and  fastened  on  it  with  the 
vise-like    grip    peculiar   to    the   submerged    swim- 
mer.     I    lifted    her    above   me   toward    the   sur- 
face,   fighting    desperately    with     my     left     arm 
ao-ainst    the    swift,    smooth    current   that    I    knew 
was   carrying   us    down   under   the   ice.      It   was 
well,    indeed,   that    I     did    so.       She    had     fallen 
upon   her  side,   so   that  her   face   did    not    strike 
the    ice;   and    now,    as    I    lifted    her    toward    the 
surface,    her   arms   were    raised    in    that  wild,  in- 
stinctive  struggle   a   young   and    healthy    nature 
always  makes  against  sudden  death. 

'*  Fortunately  the  opening  in  the  ice  made  by 
our  fall  was  of  considerable  extent.  The  smooth, 
elastic  surface  had  yielded  beneath  the  swiftly 
passing  weight,  until  we  had  reached  a  point 
where  it  gave  way  all  at  once,  and  being  broken 
in  one  spot  cracked  and  shivered  in  every  direc- 
tion. The  waves  created  by  our  fall  and  ensuing 
struggles  lifted  and  shattered  the  ice  over  which 
she  had  passed,  or  it  may  be  that  the  imprisoned 


FOR  A   LADY'S  FAVOR.  263 

waters  had  already  pressed  so  strongly  against  it, 
that  when  once  they  secured  an  outlet  they  lifted 
and  broke  the  thin,  glassy  sheet  for  a  considerable 
distance.  As  we  floated  down  the  stream,  her 
arms  caught  upon  this  broken  edge,  and  she 
made  a  vain  attempt  to  lift  herself  upon  it,  while 
the  current,  acting  on  her  soaked  garments,  drew 
her  steadily  beneath  the  surface.  Her  head  was 
above  water,  however,  and,  strangely  enough,  she 
had  not  strangled.  I  let  go  the  hold  I  had  upon 
her  with  my  right  hand,  and  throwing  that  arm 
over  the  edge  of  the  ice,  put  my  left  hand  un- 
der her  head,  and  waited  an  instant  to  get 
breath   and   think. 

"My  first  impulse  was  to  look  for  Compton. 
It  was  getting  dark,  but  I  could  see  for  a  con- 
siderable distance  over  the  polished  surface  of 
the  ice.  No  one  was  in  sight.  He  had  of 
course  gone  for  assistance.  That  was  my 
thought.  I  wondered  vaguely  why  he  had  not 
staid  to  help.  My  heart  sank  as  I  thought  how 
helpless  was  the  task  before  me.  A  shivering 
moan  from  the  drenched  and  shivering  creat- 
ure clinging  to  the  ice  beside  me,  nerved  me 
anew  for  its  performance.  I  could  not  rid  my- 
self of  the  thought  that  I  was  responsible  for 
the  peril  she  was  in.     I  knew  she  could  not  hold 


264  BLACK  ICE. 

out  until  help  should  come  from  the  village. 
So  I  set  about  the  task  of  saving  her  with 
dogged  resolution  and  without  any  thought  of 
failure.  She  should  not  die.  This  was  my  only 
thought.  Whatever  was  to  be  done  I  knew  must 
be  done  quickly,  however.  The  icy  water  would 
very  soon  render  me  incapable  of  exertion. 

"As  soon  as  I  could  get  breath  I  spoke  to  my 
companion,  and  was  surprised  by  her  quiet 
answer.  Neither  had  time  for  questioning.  I 
told  her  in  a  word  that  I  would  save  her,  and 
urged  her  to  be  calm  and  patient.  She  replied 
expressing  confidence  and  hope,  but  her  chatter- 
ing teeth  were  more  eloquent  than  words.  I  ex- 
plained to  her  that  the  ice  was  so  thin  I  feared 
we  should  be  unable  to  raise  ourselves  upon  it, 
and  proposed  that  she  remain  where  she  was 
while  I  tried  to  break  a  passage  to  the  shore 
and  return.  To  this  she  objected,  fearing  to  be 
left  alone.  So,  still  resting  my  right  hand  against 
the  edge  of  the  ice,  I  reached  down  with  my 
left,  and  drew  her  up  against  the  current  while 
she  tried  to  clamber  out  upon  the  ice.  She 
v/orked  very  carefully,  following  all  my  direc- 
tions, and  had  almost  reached  the  surface  when 
the  ice  parted  in  front  of  her  and  we  were 
again    engulfed.      Fortunately    I    was   expecting 


FOR  A   LADY'S  FAVOR.  265 

this,  and  throwing  my  right  hand  quickly 
around,  I  caught  the  edge  of  the  firm  ice  and 
drew  her  up  again  without  subjecting  her  to 
the  peril  of  complete  submersion.  We  tried 
again  with  like  result.  I  could  see  that  she  was 
growing  weak  and  becoming  much  discouraged. 
Her  hands  were  numb  and  almost  useless.  The 
icy  water  had  evidently  chilled  lier  very  mar- 
row. I  was  a  skillful  swimmer,  and  the  furious 
exercise  I  had  undergone  before  my  submer- 
sion prevented  my  yielding  to  the  benumbing 
influence  of  the  cold  as  soon  as  I  might  other- 
wise have  done. 

"  I  had  learned,  by  this  time,  that  my  companion 
could  swim  as  Vv'ell  as  skate,  but  her  clothing  so 
fettered  her  movements  that  the  fact  was  of  little 
avail.  At  length  it  occurred  to  me  that  if  she 
could  be  so  placed  that  her  whole  body  might 
at  one  time  rest  upon  the  ^d.^&  of  the  ice,  it 
would  perhaps  endure  the  strain  and  she  might 
roll  back  to  a  place  of  safety.  I  suggested  it  to 
her,  and  at  once  proceeded  to  put  it  into  execu- 
tion. While  she  clung  with  her  left  arm  out- 
stretched upon  the  ice,  her  right  resting  against 
the  edge  to  prevent  the  current  carrying  her 
under,  I  grasped  her  floating  clothing  with  my 
right   hand,   raised   her   feet  to  the  surface,   and, 


266  BLACK  ICE. 

placing  them  on  the  edge  of  the  ice,  called  upon 
her  to  lift  herself  carefully  out  of  the  water.  She 
did  so,  little  by  little,  inch  by  inch.  The  ice  bent 
and  cracked  beneath  her,  but  held.  In  a  few- 
minutes  she  was  out  of  the  water.  I  dared  not 
permit  her  to  sit  up,  but  directed  her  to  roll 
away  from  the  edge  until  entirely  certain  that 
she  had  reached  solid  ice.  Even  then  I  watched 
with  intense  anxiety  her  first  cautious  attempt 
to  rise.  She  sat  up  carefully,  drew  one  foot  after 
the  other  beneath  her,  rose  to  her  knees,  and 
finally  stood  upright,  safe! 

*'  My  heart  gave  a  great  leap  of  happiness.  She 
was  safe.  I  did  not  think  of  myself.  During 
the  whole  struggle  one  terrible  idea  had  been 
tugging  at  my  heart,  weighing  me  down  with 
apprehension  —  the  thought  that  I  had  caused 
her  peril.  If  I  had  not  rushed  upon  her,  I  said, 
if  I  had  not  pursued  her  in  the  gathering  dark- 
ness, if  I  had  not  come  with  outstretched  hands 
and  bloody  face,  like  an  angry  demon  trying  to 
seize  her  in  the  loneliness  of  the  wild  glen,  she 
would  certainly  have  noted  her  danger  and  have 
turned  before  the  ice  broke  beneath  her  feet. 
Perhaps  if  I  had  not  brought  my  own  added 
weight  so  near  there  would  have  been  no  danger 
at   all.      If  she  died,  I  felt   that  I  would  be  her 


FOR  A   LADY'S  FAVOR.  267 

murderer.  So  I  had  not  once  thought  of  dan- 
ger or  pain  or  difficulty  in  the  struggle  to  free 
her  from  the  river's  hungry  clutch.  Now  that 
she  was  safe  my  whole  nature  relaxed.  I  called 
to  her  to  skate  quickly  away,  to  whip  her  arms 
about  her  shoulders,  to  rub  her  ears,  and  be 
sure  that  she  did  not  relax  her  efforts  until  she 
reached  warmth  and  shelter.  I  said  nothing 
about  myself.  It  did  not  once  occur  to  me  that 
she  could  render  me  any  service.  Indeed  the 
danger  that  still  threatened  her  precluded  any 
such  idea. 

*'She  obeyed  my  injunctions  as  she  had  done 
from  the  beginning.  I  heard  her  skates  glide 
over  the  ice,  and  the  sharp  snap  of  her  hands 
as  she  beat  her  arms  about  her  shoulders.  It 
was  dark  enough  in  the  gorge,  though  the  stars 
were  in  the  patch  of  blue  sky  above.  I  soon 
lost  sight  of  her  receding  figure.  Then  the 
sound  of  her  skates  died  away,  and  I  began  to 
think  about  myself.  I  was  not  only  thoroughly 
chilled,  but  completely  exhausted.  I  was  lying 
with  my  arms  outstretched  upon  the  ice,  my 
breast-bone  resting  on  its  edge,  and  knew  that 
any  effort  to  raise  myself  upon  it  would  only  re- 
sult in  breaking  off  piece  after  piece.  I  think 
I   could    in    this    way    have   broken    an  opening 


268  BLACK  ICE. 

to  the  shore  at  first;  it  was  not  a  great  way, 
not  more  than  twenty  or  thirty  yards,  I  sup- 
pose. Now  I  felt  too  weak  to  undertake  such 
a  task.  Even  if  I  should  succeed,  the  banks 
were  sheer  and  smooth,  and  it  was  doubtful 
if  I  could  obtain  a  foothold.  I  could  not  roll 
myself  over  upon  the  ice  as  she  had  done,  since 
the  smooth  surface  offered  nothing  to  which  I 
could  cling.  Besides,  I  knew  that  as  soon  as  I 
quit  my  hold  the  current  would  bear  me  under, 
and  I  was  now  too  much  exhausted  to  resist 
its  force.  The  only  thing  left  for  me,  I  con- 
cluded, was  to  remain  as  I  was,  and  w^ait  until 
she  should  send  help,  if,  perchance,  I  should  be 
able  to  hold  out  until  it  arrived.  I  had  no 
doubt  that  she  would  send  aid.  I  firmly  be- 
lieved that,  despite  all  that  she  must  suffer  on 
the  way  for  succor,  she  would  return  with  it.  I 
even  pictured  to  myself  her  sorrow  if  she  should 
fail  to  come  in  time.  I  was  sure  she  would 
reproach  herself  with  having  caused  my  death. 
I  think  this  fact  did  more  than  anything  else 
to  keep  up  my  hope.  She  had  been  so  calm 
and  heroic  in  the  face  of  danger,  that  I  could 
not  endure  the  thought  that  she  should  suffer 
pain  on  my  account. 

'*  Odd  as  it  may  seem,   it  flashed   upon   me  all 


FOR  A   LADY'S  FAVOR.  269 

at  once  that  for  the  first  time  in  my  life  I  was 
really  in  love.  It  was  a  strange  situation  for 
the  development  of  romantic  sentiment.  The 
wind  had  freshened,  and  swept  almost  a  gale 
through  the  narrow  chasm.  It  was  bitter  cold. 
My  hands  were  stiff  and  numb,  and  my  legs, 
which,  half  unconsciously,  I  had  kept  in  constant 
motion  to  aid  in  supporting  myself  while  strug- 
gling for  deliverance,  now  hung  outstretched 
and  motionless  in  the  water,  which  swayed 
them  to  and  fro  as  if  they  were  mere  lifeless 
things.  The  edge  of  the  ice,  bent  down  by  my 
weight,  dipped  beneath  the  surface  of  the  water, 
making  a  gurgling  little  whirlpool  on  either 
side.  I  listened  to  their  ripple,  and  wondered 
how  long  it  would  be  before  the  ice  gave  way, 
or  my  strength  failed,  and  I  should  be  sucked 
under  the  glassy  surface,  and  carried  down  by 
the  dark,  still  current.  I  wondered  dully  what 
sort  of  a  bed  I  should  find  on  the  river's  bot- 
tom; whether  the  rocks  which  formed  the  whirl- 
pool were  harsh  and  jagged,  or  round  and 
smooth  ;  whether  I  would  be  left  to  rest  in 
peace  beneath  the  water,  or  whether  the  river 
would  give  up  its  dead,  a  thing  of  horror, 
when  the  springtime  came.  I  remember  hop- 
ing  that    I    might    be    carried    far    out    into    the 


270  BLACK  ICE. 

blue  waters  of  the  lake  where  no  eye  could  be 
offended  by  the  unsightliness  of  all  that  was 
left. 

"  Then  I  thought  of  one  who  had  fallen  through 
the  ice  a  year  ago.  I  remembered  how  the 
skaters  swept  up  and  down  the  stream  search- 
ing carefully  through  the  ice  for  the  lost  form, 
scanning  with  hushed  and  curious  care  every 
dark,  vague  outline  that  appeared  beneath  the 
half  -  transparent  ice.  I  remembered  that  a 
cannon  was  brought  down  and  (Ired,  first  upon 
the  river-bank  and  then  at  different  places  on 
the  ice,  in  the  hope  that  the  unconscious  dead 
would  hear  the  summons  and  come  to  greet 
those  who  watched  for  his  reappearance.  I  re- 
called the  fact  that  holes  were  cut  in  the  ice, 
and  long  poles,  armed  with  hooks,  thrust 
through  and  dragged  about  upon  the  river's  bot- 
tom in  search  for  the  dead  whom  the  river  held 
in  its  cold  embrace.  I  wondered  if  they  would 
search  for  me  in  this  manner — if  the  sharp  hooks 
would  lacerate  my  flesh  as  they  had  his.  I 
shuddered  with  horror  as  I  thought  of  that  ter- 
rible gash  in  the  young  lad's  cheek.  I  remem- 
bered that  the  body  was  found  in  the  eddy  at 
the  end  of  the  long,  straight  channel  below  the 
mouth  of   the    glen.       I    thought   how  distressing 


FOR  A   LADY'S  FAVOR,  271 

the  search  would  be  to  her  who  had  shared 
my  danger,  and  the  wish  to  save  her  this  pain 
induced  me  to  attempt  once  more  to  crawl  out 
upon  the  ice.  In  doing  so  I  found  that  the  glove 
which  remained  upon  one  hand,  and  the  sleeve 
of  my  coat,  had  frozen  fast  to  the  surface  of 
the  ice.  This  gave  me  a  little  hope  ;  it  was 
something  toward  which  I  might  draw  my 
stiffened  limbs.  Slowly  and  cautiously  I  pulled 
myself  upward.  I  felt  the  ice  bend  beneath 
me  and  moved  very  carefully  in  my  reawak- 
ened hope  for  safety.  Little  by  little,  farther 
and  farther  up  I  crept.  I  was  half  out  of  the 
water, 

"  The  ice  bent  and  cracked  so  that  I  dared 
attempt  nothing  more.  If  I  could  only  throw 
myself  around  so  that  the  weight  of  my  lower 
limbs  would  come  upon  another  part  of  the  floe, 
I  thought  I  might  roll  out  as  my  companion 
had  done  and  yet  be  saved.  I  rested  a  moment, 
I  was  so  very  tired.  My  legs  seemed  so  heavy, 
I  was  sure  they  would  break  the  ice.  Then  I 
began  to  turn  myself  as  on  a  pivot,  hoping 
against  hope  that  the  ice  would  endure  the 
strain.  Very  slowly  I  let  my  legs  swing  round 
the  edge  of  the  ice  ;  then  I  lifted  one,  inch 
by   inch,  upon   it.      At    last  the  task  was  accom- 


272  BLACK  ICE, 

plished.  I  had  one  leg  upon  the  ice.  The  other 
still  floated  in  the  water.  If  I  coiild  only  turn 
over,  stretched  out  at  full  length  as  I  was,  I 
was  sure  the  ice  would  bear  my  weight.  I  was 
doubtful  about  my  ability  to  do  this  on  the 
slippery  surface.  One  who  has  never  tried  to 
climb  upon  the  edge  of  a  half  -  submerged 
sheet  of  ice  cannot  guess  how  difficult  a  task 
it  is.  I  made  the  attempt.  There  was  a  warn- 
ing crack.  I  whirled  quickly  over,  only  to  find 
myself  struggling  again  in  the  water,  clutch- 
ing wildly  for  the  edge  of  the  ice  as  the 
current  bore  me  down.  Dragging  myself 
again  up  from  the  grasp  of  the  sucking  cur- 
rent, I  heard  the  pieces  of  ice  that  had  been 
loosened  by  my  vain  attempt  grate  under  the 
frozen  surface  as  they  were  borne  downstream 
by  the  waters,  that  seemed  to  mock  at  my 
failure. 

"Then  I  gave  up  hope.  I  knew  I  had  grown 
too  weak  to  risk  another  attempt.  So  I  mere- 
ly stretched  out  my  arms  upon  the  ice,  let  my 
head  drop  upon  the  sinking  edge,  while  my 
body,  borne  around  by  the  current,  was  swept 
half  under  the  treacherous  sheet.  I  knew  I 
could  not  retain  this  position  long,  but  I  was 
so   cold    and    tired    that    I    hardly    cared.      Then 


FOR  A   LADY'S  FAVOR.  273 

I  thought  I  heard  a  shout  far  down  the 
river.  Compton  had  probably  given  the  alarm. 
I  did  not  think  it  possible  that  I  could  hold 
out  until  help  arrived,  and  I  had  given  up  the 
hope  of  self-deliverance.  I  only  wanted  to  rest 
and  sleep.  I  even  fancied  it  would  be  pleasant 
to  lie  undisturbed  upon  the  river-bed.  If  I 
could  have  been  sure  that  I  would  sink  at  once 
and  lie  quietly  at  the  bottom  of  the  stream,  I 
think  I  should  have  let  go  my  hold,  but  the 
horrible  grating  of  the  loosened  ice  under  the 
hard  glare  surface  was  still  in  my  ears.  Every 
time  my  hands  slipped  and  I  seemed  in  danger 
of  being  borne  under,  I  thought  of  the  horror 
of  being  swept  along  by  the  black  gurgling 
current  under  the  cold  glassy  surface,  marred, 
wounded,  and  perhaps  showing  ghastly  and  ter- 
rible in  the  torchlight  under  the  feet  of  those 
who  would  seek  the  dead.  This  fear  kept  me 
still  clinging  to  the  ice,  though  constantly  slip- 
ping backward  little  by  little,  borne  under  more 
and  miore  by  the  hungry  current.  I  fancied 
that  the  fierce  river  already  exulted  in  its  sav- 
age triumph.  Once  more  I  thought  of  her 
whom  I  had  rescued.  I  felt  sad  and  hurt  that 
she    had  obeyed  me   and   gone  away  without   one 

word   of  cheer  or   farewell.       I    wondered   where 

i8 


274  BLACK  ICE. 

she  was.  Then  came  a  terrible  fear  that  she 
had  fallen,  chilled  and  numbed,  on  the  black 
bosom  of  the  river.  I  think  my  hands  were 
just  slipping  from  the  edge  of  the  floe  when 
this  thought  first  entered  my  mind.  It  stirred 
even  the  slumberous  lethargy  which  had  fast- 
ened itself  upon  me,  so  that  I  woke  again  to 
a   dull   consciousness    of   things    about    me. 

"I  heard  a  cry — there  could  be  no  mistake  this 
time.  Not  only  did  I  hear  a  voice,  but  a  curi- 
ous scraping  noise  that  echoed  along  the  ice, 
mingling  with  the  singing  cut  of  polished  steel. 
I  thought  it  a  dream,  but  I  tried  to  answer.  It 
came  again — a  shrill,  anxious  hail.  It  was  a 
woman's  voice.  It  brought  to  me  the  vision  of 
her  I  had  so  lately  learned  to  love,  and  peace 
came  with  it.  I  still  thought  it  but  a  dream — 
the  precursor  of  the  end, — and  was  quite  con- 
tent that  it  should  be  so.  I  thought  no  sweeter 
vision  could  come  to  cheer  my  last  moments. 
Then  I  heard  the  call  again — distinct  and  clear, 
but  full  of  pain.  I  Vv'as  sure  it  must  be  her 
voice,  but  wondered  duiiy  v;hat  could  give  her 
pain.  Then  the  horrible  picture  came  again. 
I  saw  her  huddled,  frozen,  faint  upon  the  ice  in 
mid-river.  The  thought  of  her  suffering  roused 
me  once  more.     My  senses  struggled  into  wake- 


FOR  A   LADY'S  FAVOR.  275 

fulness,  but  things  about  me  were  strangely  con- 
fused. I  could  not  rid  myself  of  the  idea  that 
the  one  I  loved  was  very  near  me.  I  told  my- 
self it  was  absurd,  impossible,  but  could  not 
shake  off  the  impression.  It  never  once  oc- 
curred to  me  to  believe  that  she  was  really 
near;  I  only  thought  it  a  mental  impression  — 
the  dream  of  the  dying.  It  seemed  curious, 
too,  that  I  should  dream  I  heard  the  sound  of 
skates.  There  was  that  same  grating  sound  as 
of  something  moving  almost  within  reach  of  my 
hand,  too.  I  listened  intently,  curious  to  see 
whether  the  hallucination  would  recur  again. 
I  thought  I  heard  a  sigh — I  was  sure  I  did,  and 
only  a  few  steps  away.  Then  came  a  sobbing 
moan.  It  seemed  too  real  to  be  a  dream.  Was 
I  really  awake  ?  There  was  another  quaver- 
ing cry.  Then  I  heard  mingled  sobs  and 
words  : 

'''Oh  dear!  I  am  so  afraid!  He  must  have 
drowned !  I  don't  know  what  to  do  !  I  can- 
not go  away.  He  must  be  here  somewhere. 
Perhaps  he  has  become  insensible  !  I  must 
know  ! ' 

"Then  I  heard  the  sound  of  cautiously  -  ap- 
proaching skates.  There  was  a  queer  splashing 
in  the  water  at   my  side.     All    at  once  it  flashed 


276  BLACK  ICE. 

upon  me  that  it  was  no  dream.  She  whom  I 
had  saved  had  returned  to  rescue  me.  At  the 
same  instant  a  sense  of  the  peril  she  was  incur- 
ring for  my  sake  roused  me  to  full  conscious- 
ness. 

"  '  Stop  ! '  I  cried.  *  Don't  come  any  farther  ! ' 
"At  least  that  is  what  I  tried  to  say.  I 
learned  afterward  that  I  only  uttered  vague, 
incoherent  moans.  No  matter ;  they  accom- 
plished my  purpose.  The  skate  -  strokes  stopped, 
and  there  came  a  little  joyful  cry  out  of  the 
darkness  : 

" '  O,  sir,  I  am  so  glad  !     Where  are  you  ? ' 
''  I    thought    I    answered,    '  Here  !  '      I    know    I 
tried    to.       But    the    only    one    there    present    has 
often    declared    that    I    merely   uttered    another 
groan. 

"However  that  may  be,  what  I  said  evoked  a 
very  pleasant  response.  The  tears  had  all  gone 
out  of  the  voice,  and  there  was  no  chattering  of 
the  teeth  after  that, 

" '  O,  I  see  you  now.  You  are  in  the  water 
yet.  Poor  fellow !  Thank  God,  you  are  still 
alive.  To  think  that  I  should  have  gone  and  left 
you  after  5^ou  helped  me  out  !  I  hope  you  will 
not  think  I  meant  to  desert  you.  I  never  dreamed 
but  you  would  follow  me.     Can't  I  help  you  ?     I 


FOR  A   LADY'S  FAVOR.  2Y7 

have    brought   this    long    pole.      Please    tell    me 
v/hat  to  do.' 

"  I  do  not  know  what  else  she  said,  but  her 
tongue  ran  on  as  if  she  had  just  learned  its  use. 
Her  words  were  celestial  music  to  my  ears.  The 
love  of  life  came  back  to  me,  and  I  was  anxious 
enough  to  do  all  I  could  to  help  myself.  But 
my  hands  were  stiff  and  numb,  and  my  limbs 
useless  in  their  leaden  helplessness.  She  would 
have  come  to  the  very  edge  of  the  broken  ice 
in  her  eagerness  to  assist  me,  but  I  warned  her 
to  keep  away.  She  pushed  the  end  of  the  pole 
within  reach  of  my  hands.  I  tried  to  seize  it, 
but  my  fingers  were  so  numb  they  could  not 
grasp  it,  and  the  effort  so  loosed  my  hold  on 
the  ice  that  I  came  very  near  being  carried 
under.  I  think  I  should,  had  not  something 
caught  the  sleeve  of  my  left  arm  and  held  me 
fast.  When  my  hand  slipped  I  gave  myself  up 
for  lost,  and  was  much  surprised  to  find  my 
arm  tightly  grasped  by  something  that  held  me  , 
still  above  the  water.  Then  I  heard  her  say 
in   hurried    tones  : 

*'  'O,  you've  got  it.     Shall  I  pull  ?     Be  sure  and 
hold  fast.' 

*'  There  was  a  sharp  pain   in  my  arm  as  I  felt 
myself    drawn    steadily    up    on    the    ice.      This, 


278  BLACK  ICE. 

wiih  the  hope  of  rescue,  sharpened  my  wits  not 
a  little.  The  ice  was  so  thin  I  knew  that  great 
care  would  be  necessary  to  prevent  its  break- 
ing. So  I  cautioned  her  to '  keep  as  far  from 
the  edge  as  possible,  and  pull  as  steadily  as  she 
could.  The  pole  she  had  was  a  long  one.  She 
went  back  to  the  end,  sat  down  upon  the  ice, 
dug  her  skate  -  heels  into  it,  and  pulled.  I 
thought  my  arm  was  being  torn  from  my  body  ; 
but  I  kept  lifting  myself  from  the  ice  with  my 
right  hand,  and  steadied  by  the  pole,  wriggled 
forward  by  degrees  upon  the  surface.  Finally 
my  whole  body  was  upon  the  ice  ;  only  my  legs 
still  dangled  in  the  icy  current.  I  begged  her 
to  wait  a  moment  while  I  tried  to  lift  them  one 
after  the  other  over  the  edge.  The  moon  had 
risen,  but  had  hitherto  been  overcast.  Just  then 
the  clouds  passed  off  and  it  cast  its  rays  half 
way  down  the  walls  of  the  chasm.  By  its  light 
I  saw  my  deliverer  rise  and  peer  eagerly  for- 
ward at  the  strange  fish  she  had  hooked — for 
hooked  I  literally  was,  as  I  then  first  realized. 
I  had  drawn  one  leg  with  difficulty  upon  the 
ice,  when  I  felt  it  begin  to  sink,  and  knew  that 
the  water  was  again  creeping  up  around  me. 
A  sudden  effort  perhaps  precipitated  the  re- 
sult.     The   ice    cracked,    broke,    and    I    felt    my- 


FOR  A    LADY'S  FAVOR.  279 

self  sinking  once  more,  when  there  came  a 
furious  tug  at  my  arm  and  I  felt  myself 
dragged  swiftly  out  of  the  water  and  along  the 
smooth  surface  toward  the  moonlight  at  the 
mouth  of  the  gorge.  Then  all  was  darkness 
and  silence.  I  had  fainted.  When  conscious- 
ness returned  I  was  lying  on  the  frozen  ground 
in  the  clear  moonlight.  A  fair  face  was  bending 
anxiously  over  me,  and  two  or  three  men  were 
rubbing  my  hands  and  pouring  some  burning 
liquid  down  my  throat.  Others  were  coming 
up  hurriedly.  There  were  questions  and  an- 
swers and  confusion.  Blankets  were  wrapped 
around  me.  A  huge  bonfire  was  soon  blazing 
beside  me,  curling  up  the  leaves  on  the  over- 
hanging hemlock  boughs  with  heated  waves 
that  rose  above  its  tongues  of  flams. 

"Almost  as  soon  as  I  opened  my  eyes,  the  lady 
in  whose  lap  my  head  was  lying  fell  heavily 
forward  upon  my  face,  with  the  utmost  disre- 
gard for  my  respiration.  Then  there  was  more 
confusion.  I  could  not  understand  it.  After  a 
time  I  became  aware  that  two  swathed  and 
steaming  forms  were  lying  on  a  bed  of  ever- 
green boughs  beside  the  raging  fire,  and  a  great 
crowd  of  noisy,  exulting  people  were  striving 
with   each   other    in  ministering  to  their  restora- 


280  BLACK  ICE. 

tion.  Finally  we  were  placed  on  improvised 
sledges  made  of  hemlock  saplings  fastened  to- 
gether at  the  larger  ends,  while  the  flat  out- 
spreading branches  formed  an  elastic  pallet 
which  slid  easily  over  the  ice.  I  suppose 
this  care  was  half  unnecessary,  but  those  who 
had  gathered  for  our  rescue  thought  they  could 
not  do  too  much  to  testify  their  joy  at  finding 
us  alive. 

"  I  could  not  understand  it  at  that  time,  but 
afterward  all  was  made  plain.  Compton  had  re- 
turned to  the  village  for  assistance  —  or  rather 
to  give  the  alarm,  and  have  search  made  for 
our  bodies,  since  he  reported  having  seen  us 
swept  down  beneath  the  ice  by  the  current. 
Perhaps  he  thought  this  was  the  truth.  He 
could  not  have  returned  very  rapidly,  as  he 
was  already  worn  out  by  our  race,  and  he 
was  ready  to  drop  with  fatigue  as  soon  as  he 
delivered  his  message.  The  bells  were  rung, 
and  the  good  people  of  the  town,  remembering 
the  sad  experience  of  a  year  before,  were  soon 
on  their  way  up  the  river  with  axes,  ropes,  and 
poles;  some  of  them  bringing  blankets  and  re- 
storatives also,  though  of  these  they  expected 
to  have  little  need. 

"My  companion,  as    she   had   already  informed 


FOR  A    LADY'S  FAVOR.  281 

me,  had  started  shoreward  immediately  after 
getting  on  the  ice,  expecting  that  I  would  fol- 
low. She  said  afterward  that  my  injunctions 
with  regard  to  her  own  safety  were  so  earnest 
and  imperative,  and  she  was  so  thoroughly 
benumbed  with  cold,  that  she  really  had  no 
thought  except  to  obey  my  directions  and  save 
herself  from  freezing.  She  accordingly  struck 
out  as  fast  as  her  numbed  limbs  would  per- 
mit, and  had  almost  reached  the  bend  of  the 
river  before  a  doubt  as  to  my  safety  crossed 
her  mind.  She  stopped  and  listened,  bending 
close  to  the  ice  and  peering  along  its  surface 
to  see  if  I  were  coming.  Then  the  thought 
flashed  upon  her  that  I  had  been  weakened  by 
my  exertion  in  assisting  her,  and  might  be  un- 
able to  extricate  myself.  What  to  do  she  could 
not  for  a  time  decide.  She  had  skated  half  a 
mile  at  the  highest  speed  her  chilled  body  and 
drenched  clothing  would  permit.  This  exer- 
cise had  brought  a  reaction  ;  and  though  the 
wind  bit  cruelly,  the  tremor  had  left  her  frame, 
and  her  teeth  no  longer  chattered  with,  the 
cold.  Her  first  thought  was  to  hurry  on  and 
bring  lielp  from  the  village.  Then  she  reflected 
that  minutes  might  be  precious.  She  remem- 
bered   the    crumbling    ice,   and   thought   of   possi- 


282  BLACK  ICE. 

bly  vain  attempts  on  my   part    to    scramble    onto 
its  treacherous  surface.      The  cruel   hungry  gurgle 
of    the   waters,  rippling  against   the  edges  of  the 
broken  ice,  sounded   in   her  ears,  and  she    deter-  , 
mined  to  return. 

"She  wore  what  was  termed  in  those  days  a 
cloud  —  a  long  knitted  comforter  that  was 
wrapped  again  and  again  about  her  head  and 
neck.  Fortunately  this  had  retained  its  place, 
and,  though  frozen  stiff  on  the  outside,  pro- 
tected ears  and  face  from  the  wind.  Her 
hands,  encased  in  woolen  mittens,  she  had  kept 
from  freezing  by  whipping  her  arms  about  her 
shoulders  as  I  had  directed.  Uncomfortable  as 
she  was  in  her  drenched  and  stiffening  garments, 
she  determined  to  return.  Fortunately,  she  was 
then  near  the  spot  where  the  body  of  the  lad 
had  been  found  a  year  before,  and  happened  to 
remember  a  long  pole,  with  a  hook  upon  the 
end,  that  had  been  used  in  the  search,  and  af- 
terward left  leaning  against  a  thorn  -  tree  on  the 
shore.  Securing  this,  she  returned  —  with  what 
resuk  I  have  alread}^  told.  Without  the  hook 
upon  the  end  of  the  pole,  I  think  her  fortitude 
would  have  proved  unavailing.  This  slipped 
around  my  arm  above  the  elbow,  and  the  point, 
taking  deep   hold    in  the   radial  muscles  below  the 


FOR  A   LADY'S  FAVOR.  283 

joint,  formed  a  grip  that  held  securely  when  my 
numbied  and  icy-coated  fingers  were  of  little 
use.  It  tore  quite  a  hole  in  the  forearm,  but 
I  am  always  thankful  when  I  see  the  scar. 

"It  is  said  that  our  return  was  a  very  imposing 
spectacle.  More  than  a  hundred  people,  many 
of  them  bearing  torches,  some  on  the  ice  and 
some  on  shore,  composed  our  escort.  Those 
on  the  river  were  scattered  over  its  surface  to 
prevent  too  great  a  strain  upon  the  ice.  Each 
of  the  improvised  sledges  was  drawn  by  a 
dozen  or  so  of  our  schoolmates,  by  means  of 
the  ropes  that  had  been  brought  in  anticipa- 
tion of  being  needed  for  a  far  less  pleasant  ser- 
vice. Every  one  was  laughing  and  shouting  as 
we  went.  I  can  just  remember  the  glare  of  the 
torches,  the  joyous  clamor,  and  an  exquisite 
sense  of  warmth  and  motion.  She  who  shared 
this  ovation  with  me  has  often  declared  it  the 
most^^  delightful  ride  she  ever  took.  Perhaps 
the  remedies  that  had  been  employed  in  restor-, 
ing  us  to  consciousness  had  something  to  do 
with  the  ecstatic  character  of  our  sensations. 

"When  we  reached  the  point  above  the  town 
we  were  met  by  almost  the  whole  remaining 
population  of  the  village — including  Compton, 
who  had   just   recovered  from  his  fright  and  ex- 


284  BLACK  ICE. 

haustion.  Just  before  they  met  us,  a  young 
lady  came  down  upon  the  ice  and  joined  them. 
Compton  shrieked  wildly  at  sight  of  her,  and 
then  fainted  clean  away.  It  was  considered  con- 
clusive evidence  of  his  love  for  one  whom  he 
thought  dead. 

"  There  were  many  cheers  and  congratulations 
as  we  were  taken  from  the  ice  and  carefully 
borne  to  the  home  of  my  companion.  I  am 
sure  I  could  have  walked,  but  I  was  too  tired 
to  insist  on  doing  so.  They  ought  to  have 
taken  me  to  my  lodgings,  but  somehow  they 
did  not.  Just  as  we  reached  the  house,  the 
village  bells  rang  out  a  joyous  peal.  The  jour- 
ney from  the  river- bank  had  roused  me,  so  that 
I  remember  her  father  saying,  as  we  crossed 
the   threshold  : 

"'Really,  this  is  as  good  as  a  wedding.' 

"It  was  about  as  near  a  jest  as  the  good  man 
ever  got,  though  there  were  tears  in  his  eyes, 
and  his   lips  trembled   as   he  spoke," 

"  I  thought  you  said  Mary  Jane's  father  was 
dead,"   interrupted    Bertha. 

"Mary  Jane's  father?  Bless  you,  child,  that 
was   your   Grandpa  Nellis." 

"Was  it  my  mamma  who  pulled  you  out?" 
she  asked,  in  great  surprise. 


FOR  A   LADY'S  FAVOR.  285 

"Well,  yes,"  I  answered.  "You  see  she  was 
a  little  ashamed  of  having  run  away  and  left 
me  to  drown,  and  thought  the  only  way  to 
prevent  my  telling  the  story  was  to  keep  me 
under  her  own  control.  So  I  have  not  only 
borne  her  mark,  but  worn  her  yoke    ever  since." 

The  impulsive  girl  sprang  up,  threw  her  arms 
about  her  mother's  neck,  and  kissed  away  the 
tears  that  were  stealing  down  the  flushed  ma- 
tronly cheeks. 

"What  became  of  Fred  Compton?"  asked 
Hartzell,  in  a  strangely  hoarse  voice,  with  his 
eyes  riveted  on  the  face  of  Helen   Somers. 

"O,  he  married  Mary  Jane,"  I  answered  care- 
lessly. 

There  was  a  little  gurgling  cry.  The  teach- 
er's slight  form  swayed  back  and  forth,  and  she 
would  have  fallen  to  the  floor  if  Twining,  who 
was  always  doing  the  right  thing  at  the  right 
time,  had  not  shot  across  the  room  like  an  ar- 
row, caught  her  in  his  arms,  and  borne  her  to 
the  sofa  from  which  I  had  risen  in  stupid  sur- 
prise. 

"Just  what  I  have  been  expecting  for  the  last 
half-hour,"  cried  the  doctor,  angrily.  "  I  declare, 
Reynolds,  if  you  will  use  that  beastly  hot-air 
furnace,  you  might  at  least  have  put  an  escape- 


286  BLACK  ICE. 

valve  somewhere  about  the  house  to  save  your 
friends  from  suffocation.  Why  a  man  who  has 
an  open  grate  wants  to  supplement  it  with  an 
oven,  I  have  never  been  able  to  understand, 
anyhow." 

He  bustled  around,  angry  and  snappish,  in 
the  work  of  resuscitation.  The  fainting  woman 
quickly  revived,  but  the  doctor  insisted  that  she 
should  be  put  to  bed  immediately.  The  clock 
struck  twelve  as  the  little  company  departed, 
and  somehow  or  another  I  could  not  resist  the 
feeling  that  the  day,  which  had  opened  so 
brightly,  had  been  the  precursor  of  a  sad  mor- 
row. This  feeling  seemed  to  have  affected  the 
others  also.  Our  guests  departed  in  anything 
but  a  merry  mood,  and  when  Hester  came  into 
the  library  for  our  wonted  chat  before  retiring, 
there  were  tears  in  her  eyes  which  my  kisses 
could   not   dry. 

"  Ah,  Percy,"  she  said  wearily,  "  I  am  afraid 
we  shall  regret  we  ever  gave  a  Thanksgiving 
dinner." 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

A     STUBBORN     KNIGHT. 

1\/TRS.  SOMERS  did  not  appear  at  breakfast. 
Dr.  Colton  had  called  early,  and  in  his  jo- 
cose manner  had  prescribed  three  nights'  sleep  in 
a  strange  bed,  and  three  days'  lounging  in  a 
strange  house,  as  the  essential  conditions  of  her  re- 
covery. So  she  was  to  remain  our  guest  until 
school  opened  again  on  Monday  morning.  In  the 
mean  time  the  resources  of  Cragholt  were  to  be 
taxed  to  the  utmost  to  keep  her  from  doing  an)^- 
thing.  Hester  announced  herself  as  delighted  at 
the  prospect  of  an  invalid  who  would  be  likely  to 
appreciate  her  care.  At  the  worst  she  said  it  was 
only  a  headache,  and  she  would  have  her  guest 
ready  for  dinner  with  a  good  appetite,  and  in  the 
mean  time  would  get  better  acquainted  with 
her  than  she  ever  had  a  chance  to  become  before. 
Twining,  whose  visit  was  to  last  until  Monday 
also,  seemed  restless  enough  during  the  day.  The 
narration  of  my  Cranberg  adventure  appeared  to 
have   awakened  memories,  some  of  which  I  knew 


288     \  BLACK  ICE. 

must  be  unpleasant.  His  first  love-episode,  as 
well  as  mine,  had  been  connected  with  that  period. 
In  fact,  he  had  first  made  the  acquaintance  of  his 
Mary  in  one  of  his  visits  to  me  during  the  period 
of  what  they  were  pleased  to  term  my  convales- 
cence, at  Hester's  father's.  We  sat  all  the  morning 
in  the  library  smoking  and  chatting  of  old  times. 
I  talked  of  all  the  pleasant  things  I  could  re- 
member, told  him  of  our  schoolmates  whom  I 
had  met  here  and  there  in  unexpected  and  un- 
heard-of places  as  I  traveled  up  and  down  the 
land.  He  seemed  particularly  anxious  to  learn 
about  Compton,  of  whom  I  had  not  heard  a  word 
for  years.  Indeed,  the  last  I  knew  of  him  was  that 
he  had  abandoned  Mary  Jane,  or  at  least  wronged 
and  neglected  her  so  that  there  either  had  been 
a  divorce  or  some  steps  in  that  direction.  Since 
then  I  had  known  nothing  of  his  life,  and  had  seen 
no  one  who  was  acquainted  with  her  fate.  These 
reminiscences  seemed  to  afford  little  pleasure  to 
my  friend,  and  I  greatly  regretted  having  re- 
lated the  incident  which  called  them  to  his  mind. 
I  was  surprised,  however,  to  find  his  thoughts  run- 
ning especially  upon  Compton. 

"I'll  tell  you  what,  Percy,"  said  he,  ''the  man  al- 
ways was  a  scoundrel,  and  I  have  a  mind  to  hunt 
him  up  and  see  what  deviltry  he  is  at  now." 


A   STUBBORN  KNIGHT,  289 

"Yes?"  I  queried  curiously.  "With  what  mo- 
tive?" 

"  Oh,  I  may  be  able  to  balk  some  of  bis  rascal- 
ity," said  Twining,  as  he  strode  up  and  down  the 
open  space  in  the  middle  of  the  "workshop,"  biting 
nervously  at  the  stump  of  a  cigar  which  had  long 
been  extinguished. 

"  You  are  becoming  a  philanthropist,  and  pro- 
pose to  labor  for  the  general  good  of  humanity,  I 
suppose." 

"  No,  you  don't  suppose  any  such  thing,  Percy," 
he  replied  testily,  as  he  stooped,  and  looked  down 
earnestly  into  my  face,  as  I  leaned  back  in  one  of 
the  great  rockers. 

"  Well,  Jack,  if  you  say  I  don't,  I  don't;  but  what 
else  could  tempt  a  decent  man  like  you  to  put 
himself  on  the  track  of  a  miserable  dog  like  Comp- 
ton,  I  am  sure  I  can't  imagine." 

"H'm!  H'm!  Well,  I  suppose  not,"  said  Twin- 
ing, thoughtfully,  as  he  resumed  his  sentry  march 
up  and  down  the  room.     "I  hardly  know  myself." 

"Worse  and  worse,  Jack.  You  accuse  me  of 
knowing,  and  then  claim  ignorance  for  yourself." 

"No,  I  don't  mean  that,"  he  replied.  "I  mean 
if  I  were  required  to  give  a  reason,  I  should  find  it 
difficult  to  state  one  that  would  seem  sane  to  any 
other  mind." 


290  BLACK  ICE. 

''  I  fear  you  will  have  to  fall  back  on  philanthro- 
py after  all, — the  inborn  spirit  of  knight-errantry 
that  has  always  been  the  mainspring  of  your  life, 
and  is  the  real  reason  why  you  have  grown  famous, 
while  the  rest  of  us,  your  old  friends,  have  only 
managed,  the  most  of  them  to  be  comfortable,  the 
best  of  them  only  prosperous." 

''Pshaw!"  said  Twining,  impatiently.  "I  have 
done  nothing.  The  fortune  which  others  have  had 
to  struggle  for,  I  found  ready  made  to  my  hand. 
What  I  have  done  has  been  the  recreation  of  a  man 
who  never  felt  the  necessity  of  doing.  If  I  have 
labored  at  all,  it  was  because  I  was  unwilling  to 
remain  idle  in  such  a  busy  world.  If  I  have  done 
anything  for  others,  it  is  because  I  needed  to  do 
nothing  for  myself.  Don't  mention  it  again,  Percy. 
It  makes  me  ashamed  to  have  such  a  worker  as 
you  allude  to  it." 

''Yet  you  are  just  hunting  some  new  field  of 
disinterested  labor." 

"  Not  at  all,  Percy,"  stopping  in  his  walk  and 
laying  a  hand  upon  my  shoulder.  "  You  may 
perhaps  call  this  new  freak  of  mine  knight-errantry, 
but  certainly  it  is  not  disinterested  in  its  char- 
acter." 

"Will  you  just  tell  me,  then,"  I  asked,  "what  in- 
terest a  man  like  you  can  have  in  Fred  Compton  ?" 


A   STUBBORN  KNIGHT.  291 

"Well,"  said  Jack,  hesitatingly,  "I  think  I  may- 
be able  to  prevent  his  doing  harm  to  some  one  else." 

"To  some  one  else?  Ha!  ha!  old  fellow,  that  is 
the  very  thing.     That  is  my  idea  of  philanthropy." 

"  Not  at  all,"  with  a  serious  shake  of  his  head. 
"  If  I  had  been  a  philanthropist  I  should  have  said 
afiy  one  else." 

"  O,  vain  quibbler!"  I  said,  shaking  my  finger  at 
him  reproachfully.  "  Don't  think  to  play  over 
again  the  games  of  the  past.  How  often  have  you 
seduced  me  from  the  profitable  paths  of  practical 
science  to  the  vain  wranglings  of  the  schoolmen  ? 
Don't  try  to  inveigle  me  into  a  controversy  as  to 
the  logical  force  of  'some '  and  'any.' " 

Twining  laughed  pleasantly. 

"I  had  no  thought  of  leading  your  unsophisti- 
cated nature  into  scholastic  disputation.  I  merely 
meant  to  say  that  my  interest  in  Compton's  rascal- 
ity was  of  a  particular  and  not  of  a  general  char- 
acter." 

"Don't,  don't.  Jack,  if  you  please,"  putting  out 
my  hand  with  a  protesting  gesture.  "If  you  wish 
me  to  get  an  idea,  please  don't  deal  in  riddles.  I 
have  enough  of  them  in  my  profession." 

"Well,"  said  Twining,  with  a  half-abashed  look, 
"to  speak  plainly,  I  am  interested  in  your — your 
friend — the  teacher." 


292  BLACK  ICE, 

"Mrs,  Somers?" 

"Well— yes/' 

"  I  don't  see  how  a  man  of  any  taste  could  help 
being  interested  in  her." 

"  She  is  a  very  pleasant  woman,"  sententiously. 

"  Pleasant  ?"  I  exclaimed.  "  Well,  I  vow  !  Jack 
Twining,  you  are  the  most  provoking  mortal  I 
ever  saw.  To  speak  of  being  interested  in  such  a 
woman  as  Mrs.  Somers,  and  then  in  the  same  breath 
coolly  allude  to  her  as  'pleasant'!  Why,  man,  I 
should  feel  myself  wanting  in  due  allegiance  to 
her  worth  and  beauty  if  I  used  any  weaker  term 
than  '  charming  '  in  regard  to  her.  Only  think  how 
she  read  that  most  pathetic  of  all  Shakesperean 
passages — that  noblest  plea  of  outraged  woman- 
hood— Queen  Katherine's  submissively  defiant 
challenge  to  the  array  of  them  that  stood  in  judg- 
ment on  her  marriage!  Did  you  ever  hear  anything 
like  it  ?" 

"  I  confess  I  never  did,"  said  Twining;  "  though 
at  the  time  I  thought  more  of  the  reader  than  of 
the  theme." 

"So,  Jack,  you  thought  more  of  the  reader? 
Bless  you,  old  fellow,  I  am  glad  of  it.  I  wish  you'd 
keep  thinking  of  her.  She's  worth  thinking  about, 
if  ever  woman  was  !" 

Jack  took   my  impetuous  words   as   coolly  as  if 


A    STUBBORN  KNIGHT.  293 

he  had  no   idea   of   their   purport,  and  answered 
quietly: 

"  Yes,  that  is  why  I  have  determined  to  follow  up 
Fred  Compton." 

"  Fred  Compton  ?"  I  angrily  exclaimed.  "  What 
on  earth  has  Fred  Compton  to  do  with  the  sweet- 
hearted  angel  who  blesses  Cragholt  with  her  pres- 
ence at  this  hour?" 

"That  is  just  what  I  mean  to  find  out,"  said 
Twining. 

"  See  here,  Jack," — I  rose  and  laid  my  hand  upon 
his  arm, — "you  aren't  losing  your  wits,  are  you,  old 
fellow?" 

"No,"  he  smiled  in  reply.  "I  am  just  trying  to 
get  them  together." 

"  Will  you  please  tell  me,  then,  what  reason  you 
have  for  supposing  that  Helen  Somers  ever  heard 
of  Fred  Compton  until  last  night?" 

"  Reason  ?  I  can  hardly  tell.  I  seem  to  have 
known  the  fact  so  long  that  I  am  not  sure  I  could 
give  the  reasons  in  detail." 

"  '  Reasons  as  plenty  as  blackberries,'  eh?  Well, 
you  might  give  one,  since  there's  no  compul- 
sion." 

"One?  Well,  you  remember  what  the  doctor 
told  us  about  her,  of  course  ?" 

^'Yes." 


294  BLACK  ICE. 

''  Of  her  remarkable  coolness  amid  danger  and 
excitement  ?" 

<' Certainly." 

"  How  steady  her  hand  and  eye  were  in  the  midst 
of  appalling  disaster  ?" 

"  Of  course." 

"You  know  how  she  has  lived  here?" 

"Like  an  angel.     To  be  sure  I  do." 

"I  mean  alone — self-contained,  self-helping." 

"Just  so." 

"Well,  do  you  suppose  that  any  trivial  matter 
would  make  such  a  woman  faint  in  the  presence  of 
a  dozen  people  ?" 

"Trivial!  Do  you  call  a  hot-air  furnace  in  a 
close  room  a  trivial  matter?  You  had  better  give 
a  little  attention  to  sanitary  engineering,  Jack  !" 

"Hot-air  furnace!  Bah!  Percy,  with  all  your 
shrewdness  you  are  the  dullest  fellow  I  ever  saw  ! 
It  is  well  that  you  have  to  deal  with  Nature,  who 
always  tells  the  truth,  or  if  she  plays  any  tricks, 
does  it  in  a  simple  fashion  that  never  misleads  the 
true-hearted  votary.  If  you  had  to  deal  with  men 
you  would  never  have  been  deceived  by  the  doctor's 
shallow  pretense.  The  furnace,  indeed  !  I  sat  by 
the  only  register  in  the  room,  Percy,  and  had  my- 
self turned  off  the  heat  two  hours  before." 

Had  the  ceiling  given  way  and  the  teacher  floated 


'a  stubborn  knight.  295 

down  before  us  as  noiselessly  as  a  thistledown  out 
of  the  chamber  above  in  which  she  lay,  I  could  not 
have  been  more  amazed. 

"And — and— you— think,  Jack  ?"  I  said  hoarsely. 

"I  think,"  he  answered  with  great  deliberation, 
"her  life  holds  some  mystery  in  which  Fred 
Compton  plays  an  important  part." 

"  And  you — what  will  you  do.  Jack  ?"  beseech- 
ingly. 

"  I  will  track  the  rascal  up,  Percy,  find  out  what- 
ever is  to  be  learned  about  him,  and  see  if  I  cannot 
do  something  to  relieve  this  poor  woman  of  her 
terror." 

"God  bless  you!"  gripping  his  hand  hard.  "You 
always  were  better  than  the  rest  of  us." 

"  No,  no,  Percy,"  he  replied,  and  there  was  a 
tender  quaver  in  his  voice;  "but  you  know  1  have 
no  one  else  to  serve,  and  I  have  learned  how 
pitiable  beyond  the  power  of  words  to  express 
is  the  condition  of  a  woman  who  has  suffered 
wrong." 

I  could  only  shake  his  hand  by  way  of  reply,  and 
then  there  was  a  long  silence  between  us. 

"Did  you  notice  Hartzell  last  night?"  I  asked 
finally. 

"  No,"  he  replied,  "I  was  watching  her." 

"  So  was  he." 


296  BLACK  ICE. 

"Do  you  think  he  noticed  anything — drew  any 
conclusions,  I  mean  ?" 

"You  remember  he  asked  about  Compton  ?" 

"So  he  did.     I  had  forgotten  it." 

"  I  happened  to  notice  the  expression  of  his  coun- 
tenance just  then." 

"  Was  it — do  you  think  his  motive  is — friendly  ?" 

"  I  should  say  not — decidedly  not,"  I  answered. 

"  Poor  woman!  I  am  afraid  there  is  more  trouble 
in  store  for  her,"  sighed  Jack  as  he  threw  away  the 
stump  of  his  cigar  and  lighted  another. 

I  fully  shared  his  misgivings,  with  an  added 
consciousness  that  the  visit  to  Cragholt  had  done 
something  to  precipitate  the  evil. 

The  calmness  with  which  Mrs.  Somers  met  us 
at  dinner-time,  however,  dissipated  all  my  appre- 
hensions, and  I  felt  sure  it  must  have  had  a  like  ef- 
fect upon  Jack.  Certain  it  is  that  there  have  been 
few  pleasanter  days  in  a  home  notable  for  the  hap- 
piness of  its  inmates  than  the  two  which  followed 
while  Twining  and  the  teacher  remained  our  guests. 
As  they  drove  away  on  Monday  morning,  he  to  take 
the  train  and  she  to  go  to  her  lodgings.  Bertha  said, 
as  they  disappeared  down  the  winding  road: 

"Aren't  they  nice,  mamma?  I  wish  they  were 
coming  back  to-night." 

I  think  a  like  feeling  on  Hester's  part  was  at  the 


A    STUBBORN  KNIGHT.  297 

bottom  of  an  arrangement  she  had  made  by  which 
Master  Bobby  was  to  remain  with  us  for  the 
winter.  Various  and  sundry  other  reasons  were,  it 
is  true,  advanced  in  favor  of  this  proposition,  but  I 
have  always  believed  that  the  wise-hearted  woman 
meant  to  keep  the  son  as  a  hostage  to  insure  the 
father's  return. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

THE   BREAKING    OF    THE    SEAL. 

"T^AY  after  day  passed  quietly  and  pleasantly 
during  the  week  that  followed.  I  began 
to  doubt  my  premonitions.  Hester  had  appar- 
ently forgotten  her  apprehension  of  evil.  I  was 
busy  preparing  a  long-deferred  report  upon  one 
of  the  puzzling  questions  with  which  our  pro- 
fession so  abounds.  Hester,  who  rarely  went 
abroad  during  my  presence  at  Cragholt,  had  re- 
mained even  more  constantly  at  home,  because 
a  part  of  my  work  had  been  of  a  character  in 
which  she  was  able  to  assist,  and  the  habit  of  sit- 
ting in  the  library  once  established,  she  was  sure  to 
continue  it  until  my  absence  interrupted  it  again. 
It  was  during  these  halcyon  days  that  the  storm 
broke  upon  the  little  village  which  our  home  eyrie 
overlooked.  We  wondered  afterward  that  we 
had  not  heard  its  echoes  sooner.  Bertha  and  her 
cousins  might  have  heard  it  from  their  classmates, 
one  would  suppose;  but  let  it  be  recorded  for  the 
credit   of  human  nature  in  Gladesboro   that  they 


THE  BREAKING  OF  THE  SEAL.  299 

did  not.  Toward  the  close  of  the  week,  however, 
when  Hester  had  gone  out  to  pay  some  social 
debts  which  she  declared  could  no  longer  be  de- 
layed, and  I  was  more  than  usually  busy  on  the 
conclusion  of  my  report,  the  area  of  depression  that 
had  prevailed  in  the  valley  for  some  days  had  ex- 
tended itself  so  as  to  include  Cragholt. 

I  ought,  perhaps,  to  have  stated  that  for  some 
years  I  had  been  a  member  of  the  School  Board 
of  our  little  town.  It  is  the  only  office  I  have 
held  since  I  laid  aside  my  shoulder-straps  and 
took  up  in  earnest  the  varied  implements  of  my 
anomalous  profession. 

As  a  rule,  the  duties  of  this  position  had  proved 
very  light,  and,  I  must  admit,  had  been  but  ill 
performed.  I  had  sketched  the  course  of  study, 
and  had  made  myself  in  many  cases  the  voluntary 
adviser  of  both  teachers  and  pupils;  but,  as  a  rule, 
the  financial  and  administrative  functions  of  the 
Board  had  been  performed  by  my  associates  with- 
out any  particular  assistance  from  me.  This-^tate  of 
affairs  had  proved  so  satisfactory  to  all,  that  I  was 
regularly  chosen  to  succeed  myself,  without  effort, 
or  knowledge  of  the  fact,  on  my  part.  Two  excep- 
tions to  this  rule  of  careless  inattention  to  the 
more  important  duties  of  the  Board  had  occurred. 
One   of   them  was    the   organization  of  our  High 


300  BLACK  ICE. 

School.  It  had  not  been  accomplished  without 
what  politicians  term  a  fight.  I  had  been  in  the 
thick  of  this  conflict,  and  as  a  result  had  an  al- 
most parental  interest  in  the  institution  that  came 
from  it.  The  other  was  the  struggle  which  re- 
sulted in  putting  Mrs.  Somers  at  the  head  of  this 
institution.  So  unusual  a  thing  had  not  been  done 
without  sharp  opposition.  Mr.  Strayhorn,  the  Pres- 
ident of  the  Board,  an  old  and  valued  citizen  of 
great  wealth,  undoubted  probity,  and  somewhat  an- 
tiquated notions,  had  been  especially  desirous  that 
a  man  should  be  chosen  to  the  position.  He  ad- 
mitted Mrs.  Somers's  merits  as  a  teacher,  and  did 
not  attempt  to  deny  that  it  was  due  very  largely  to 
the  inspiration  of  her  influence  and  example  that 
this  modification  and  extension  of  our  village  school 
system  became  necessary,  or  even  feasible.  He 
was  even  willing  that  she  should  be  placed  upon  a 
level  as  to  salary,  and  almost  on  a  level  as  to  au- 
thority, with  the  principal,  if  only  we  would  consent 
to  recognize  the  time-honored  notion  of  mascu- 
line superiority,  by  placing  a  man  at  the  head  of 
the  school.  He  was  entirely  disinterested.  He  did 
not  care  who  was  chosen,  but  he  believed  in  men 
as  leaders  and  rulers,  and  was  thoroughly  orthodox 
in  his  views  with  regard  to  woman's  proper  sphere. 
Everything  that   smacked    of   woman's  rights,  or 


THE  BREAKING  OF   THE   SEAL,  301 

seemed  a  recognition  of  her  in  an  independent  and 
responsible  relation,  he  disapproved. 

I  had  championed  the  cause  of  Mrs.  Somers,  who, 
almost  a  stranger  personally,  had  made  such  an 
impression  on  our  village  youth  of  both  sexes  that 
I,  in  common  with  very  many  of  the  fathers  and 
mothers  of  her  pupils,  felt  very  anxious  that  her 
influence  should  be  neither  trammeled  nor  neu- 
tralized by  the  appointment  of  a  nominal  superior, 
who  was  pretty  sure  to  be  actually  an  inferior  ; 
since  it  is  an  unfortunate  fact  that,  while  such  a 
village  can  almost  always  command  the  services  of 
a  first-class  woman  in  such  a  position,  it  can  only 
hope  to  have  a  second-class  man. 

The  struggle  that  ensued  over  the  question, 
though  sharp,  was  fortunately  good-natured.  Yet 
Mr.  Strayhorn  had  never  quite  forgotten  that  when 
it  came  to  the  final  vote,  there  had  been  two  of 
our  associates  who  stood  with  me,  and  only  one 
who  had  stood  with  him.  That  one  had  since  re- 
tired from  the  Board,  and  in  his  place  had  been 
chosen  a  Mr.  Martindale,  good-natured,  middle- 
aged,  and  a  widower,  whom  common  report  jocu- 
larly charged  with  having  unsuccessfully  sought  to 
ingratiate  himself  with  Mrs.  Somers. 

It  is  a  rule  at  Cragholt  that  the  master,  when  at 
work  in  the  library,  is  to  be  disturbed  only  in  cases 


302  BLACK  ICE.  _ 

of  the  most  imperative  necessity.  When,  therefore, 
a  servant  excused  herself  for  interrupting  my  work 
by  alleging  the  importunity  of  these  two  gentle- 
men for  an  interview,  I  felt  confident  that  my  fears 
were  about  to  be  realized,  and  that  I  should  very 
soon  hear  evil  tidings  of  the  lady  principal. 

The  thought  gave  me  a  very  keen  regret.  I 
could  not  believe  that  this  woman,  so  refined  and 
womanly  in  all  her  attributes,  with  her  heroic  hid- 
ing of  a  w^ound  which  showed  only  involuntarily  in 
look  and  tone,  could  have  been  in  any  degree  un- 
worthy of  the  confidence  bestowed  upon  her.  Yet 
I  knew  the  force  of  that  strange  spirit  which  pur- 
sues with  unresting  virulence  the  woman  who  errs, 
while  readily  condoning,  and  ofttimes  rewarding 
with  special  favor,  the  man  whose  life  is  but  a  con- 
tinued chapter  of  the  most  notorious  crimes  against 
the  home.  I  remembered  Him  who  wrote  upon  the 
sand  the  keen  rebuking  sentence  which  had  scat- 
tered a  woman's  accusers,  and  wished  I  might  have 
something  of  His  wisdom. 

Yet  I  will  confess  I  had  not  much  hope.  I  real- 
ized how  little  was  required  to  destroy  a  woman's 
usefulness,  and  though  I  might  feel  as  a  man,  I 
must  act  as  a  trustee;  and  I  knew  how  often  the 
adage  "Right  wrongs  no  man"  was  falsified  by  the 
requirements  of  such  a  position.     She  might  be  in 


THE  BREAKING  OF   THE  SEAL,  303 

the  right  or  the  victim  of  outrageous  wrong,  and 
yet  the  prosperity  and  interest  of  the  school  de- 
mand that  she  be  still  further  wronged. 

I  determined,  however,  that  no  act  of  mine  should 
be  wanting  to  delay  or  prevent  any  injustice  of  this 
sort.  This  was  my  mental  condition  when  my 
associates  of  the  Board  entered  the  library.  Their 
evident  constraint  confirmed  both  my  apprehen- 
sion and  my  resolve.  After  some  irrelevant  con- 
versation the  elder  of  my  visitors  said,  with 
considerable  embarrassment  : 

"I  suppose  you  know  our  business,  Mr.  Rey- 
nolds ?" 

"I  haven't  the  least  idea  of  it,  gentlemen,  unless 
it  is  a  friendly  call." 

"We  should  not  have  interrupted  your  work  for 
that,  however  pleasant,"  replied  Strayhorn,  court- 
eously. "  The  fact  is — ah — that — in  view  of  the 
extraordinary  rumors  afloat — you  know — some- 
thing ought  to  be  done." 

''Well,  I  should  think  so,  Mr.  Strayhorn,  if  it  is 
as  bad  as  that,"  I  answered  jocularly.  "  But  to 
what  rumors  do  you  refer?"    . 

"  What  rumors!     Haven't  you  heard  ?"  ] 

"Not  a  word." 

"You  don't  say  so  !     Where  have  you  been  ?** 

"Right  here." 


304  BLACK  ICE. 

"  That  accounts  for  it,"  said  Martindale,  laugh- 
ing. "  If  you  had  been  outside  the  house,  you 
could  not  have  been  ignorant  of  what  all  Glades- 
boro  is  talking  about." 

"  Indeed  !  Please  don't  keep  me  in  suspense, 
gentlemen.  It  must  be  some  very  weighty  matter. 
I  hope  no  public  disaster,  such  as — " 

"  O,  it's  all  about  Mrs.  —  that  is  —  the  lady 
principal,"  said  Strayhorn,  with  some  show  of 
asperity. 

"  Ah,  gentlemen,"  I  answered  gravely,  "  I  ex- 
pected trouble  in  that  direction." 

"You  did  ?"  both  ejaculated  in  surprise. 

"Certainly.  I  have  long  been  confident  that 
some  one  would  induce  that  paragon  of  teachers 
to  abandon  the  public  school  and  take  charge  of  a 
private  one.  Since  Martindale  failed,  however,  I 
have  been  in  hope  that  she  would  hold  out  for 
another  year." 

"  O,  it  isn't  that,"  said  Martindale,  good-na- 
turedly, though  his  face  flushed. 

"No,  indeed,"  said  the  other,  solemnly.  "It's 
worse  than  that — a  good  deal  worse." 

"You  don't  say  so?  Suppose  you  tell  me  what 
it  is,  then." 

"  It's  just  this,  Mr.  Reynolds  :  it  turns  out,  just  as 
I  expected  it  would  from  the  first,  that  this  Mrs. 


THE  BREAKING  OF  THE   SEAL,  305 

Somers,  or  Mrs. — that  is,  the  lady  principal,  what- 
ever her  name — is  a  married  woman  after  all." 

"  Well,  I  am  glad  to  hear  that,"  I  answered. 

"  You  are  ?" 

"Certainly." 

"  You  had  some  doubt  about  it  ?" 

"Not  a  bit." 

"  Why  are  you  glad,  then  ?" 

*'  Because  no  one  else  can  doubt  it  now." 

"You  thought  her  a  widow?" 

"I  suppose  so,  if  I  thought  about  it  at  all." 

"But  she  isn't,  you  see.  That's  what's  the  mat- 
ter." 

"That  is  bad  news  for  Martindale  and  other 
would-be  suitors  of  the  lady,  but  I  do  not  see  how 
it  can  interest  us,  Mr.  Strayhorn," 

"You  don't?" 

"I  do  not." 

"Why,  man  alive,  she's  got  a  husband!'* 

"Well,  I  have  got  a  wife.     So  we're  even." 

"But  she  has  been  palming  herself  off  as  a 
widow — and — " 

"Stop,  gentlemen!"  I  interrupted.  "The  lady 
of  whom  you  speak  is  a  friend  of  my  famih^,  and 
under  this  roof,  at  least,  must  be  spoken  of  with  re- 
spect. I  believe  her  a  pure,  good  woman  who  is 
incapable   of   deceit.      If   you   have   any   facts   to 


306  BLACK  ICE. 

show  to  the  contrary  I  will  hear  them,  but  must 
decline  to  listen  to  any  unsupported  imputations 
against  her." 

"Why,  her  name    isn't  Somers  at  all,  Mr.  Rey- 
nolds," said  the  old  man,  with  indignant  surprise. 

"  You  are  sure  of  that  ?" 

"Well,  yes — that  is,  her  husband's  name  is  not 
Somers." 

"You  know  that,  I  suppose  ?" 

"  I  have  his  word  for  it." 

"You  have  seen  him,  then?" 
-"No,  but  he  has  written." 

"  Indeed  !     With  what  object?" 

"  I  hardly  know." 

"To  whom  did  he  write?" 

"  To  me — and  others." 

"  Did  he  write  to  you  as  a  member  of  the  School 
Board  ?" 

"Yes." 

"  Does  he  want  her  wages  ?" 

"  He  did  not  say  so." 

"  It  is  queer.     Where  did  he  write  from?" 

"  Paris." 

"  Paris  ?     What  did  he  want  ?" 

"  His   wife,  I   guess,"  said   the   old   man,  with  a 
chuckle. 

"His  wife!     He  didn't  expect  you   to  send  her 


THE  BREAKING  OF  THE  SEAL.  807 

back  as  we  used  to  return  fugitive  slaves,  did 
he?" 

"  O,  I  don't  know,"  said  the  old  man,  testily. 
"  Read  his  letter  yourself.  I'm  not  the  only  one 
that  has  been  favored  with  such  an  epistle." 

He  handed  me  as  he  spoke  a  letter  postmarked 
in  Paris,  and  bearing  the  stamp  of  New  York  four 
days  before.  I  noticed  these  things  as  I  drew  the 
letter  from  the  envelope.     It  read  as  follows: 

"  To  whom  it  7nay  concern  : 

*'The  lady  whose  likeness  is  hereto  attached  is 
my  wife.  We  were  married  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  by 
Rev.  Julius  E.  Gardner,  rector  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  church  in  that  city,  on  the  14th  day  of 
May,  187-.  About  a  year  afterward  she  aban- 
doned her  home,  and  since  that  time,  as  I  am  in- 
formed, has  been  living  under  various  assumed 
names  in  different  parts  of  the  country.  I  send 
this  notice  in  order  that  unwary  parties  may  not 
be  misled,  by  the  supposition  that  she  is  a  single 
woman,  to  receive  and  treat  her  as  such. 

"Respectfully,  Fred.  H.  Compton." 

There  was  no  mistaking  the  signature  of  my  old 
enemy.  Mrs.  Somers's  mysterious  agitation  at  the 
mention  of  his  name  came  to  my  mind  instantly  as 
a  corroboration  of  his  marital  claim.     There  was 


308  BLACK  ICE. 

no  question  as  to  the  likeness,  an  elegant  little 
Parisian  vignette,  copied  from  an  American  photo- 
graph, the  name  of  Sarony  with  the  unmistakable 
trademark  appearing  in  a  light  line  above  that 
of  the  French  re-producteur.  It  was  unmistakably  a 
likeness,  and  a  wonderfully  good  one,  too,  of  the 
lady-principal.  Appended  to  this  letter,  as  if  by  an 
afterthought,  was  a  postscript  in  these  words: 

"The  lady's  real  name  is  Margaret  Somers 
Compton.  I  have  heard  that  she  has  assumed  the 
name  of  Mrs.  Helen  Somers,  and  passes  for  a 
widow.  There  has  never  been  any  divorce,  nor, 
so  far  as  I  am  aware,  any  proceedings  looking  to- 
ward one.  I  shall  arrive  in  New  York  about  Jan- 
uary first,  and  my  address  afterward  will  be  the 
Everett  House,  Union  Square.  F.  H.  C." 

Perhaps  I  occupied  more  time  than  was  actually 
necessary  in  reading  this  strange  epistle,  or  it  may 
be  that  my  fellow-members  of  the  Board  saw  a 
look  of  surprise  or  doubt  upon  my  face.  We  are 
all  Lavaters  by  instinct,  and  given  a  knowledge  of 
the  subject  of  a  man's  thoughts,  there  are  very  few 
so  dull  as  not  to  be  able  to  give  a  good  guess  as  to 
their  specific  character.  At  any  rate,  they  evidently 
saw  that  it  had  made  an  impression  on  me  and 
judged  its  effect  to  be  convincing. 


THE  BREAKING  OF   THE  SEAL.  309 

"Well,"  said  the  older  man,  when  I  had  con- 
cluded the  examination,  ''what  do  you  think  of 
that  ?" 

"Does  anybody  here  know  this  man  Compton  ?", 
I  asked. 

"Never  heard  of  him,  and  cannot  find  that  any 
one  in  town  ever  did,"  was  the  reply. 

"  Did  you  say  that  several  people  had  received 
these  letters  ?" 

"All  the  Board  except  you,  I  think,  and  several 
prominent  citizens;  I  believe  all  the  ministers." 

"  Did  Dr.  Colton  get  one  ?" 

"It  is  thought  not.  No  one  has  spoken  to  him 
directly  about  it,  but  he  has  been  given  an  oppor- 
tunity to  refer  to  it  if  he  wishes." 

"Were  the  letters  all  alike?" 

"  Precisely,"  said  the  younger  man,  drawing  one 
from  his  pocket. 

I  compared  them  carefully.  They  were  exact 
duplicates — written  in  a  fine,  precise  French  hand, 
but    signed    in    a  bold,  strong  style.  % 

"  He  has  a  confederate  in  the  village,"  I  said,  half 
to  myself. 

"What  makes  you  think  so?"  they  asked  in  sur- 
prise. 

"  How  else  would  he  know  whom  to  address  and 
whom  to  omit  ?" 


310  BLACK  ICE. 

The  idea  seemed  not  to  have  occurred  to  them 
before.     So  they  merely  said: 
■"  Sure  enough." 

"You  see,  gentlemen,"  I  continued,  feeling  the 
path  grow  smoother  before  me,  "  it  is  evident  that 
whoever  is  at  the  bottom  of  this  has  persecution  of 
a  poor  woman  for  his  sole  motive." 

"  Do  you  think  so  ?"  the  old  man  asked  doubt- 
fully. 

He  was  a  strict  man,  to  whom  even  the  appear- 
ance of  evil  was  obnoxious.  But  he  was  especially 
a  just  man,  and  I  knew  nothing  would  affect  him 
more  deeply  than  the  idea  of  being  the  instrument 
of  malice  or  injustice.  I  saw  that  there  would  be 
a  conflict,  and  my  belief  in  the  teacher's  innocence 
was  so  great  that  I  determined  to  lose  no  oppor- 
tunity to  make  sentiment  in  her  favor. 

"Certainly,"  I  replied.  "Look  with  what  skill 
the  matter  has  been  conducted.  First  he  writes  to 
you,  Mr.  Strayhorn,  asking  questions  about  her. 
This  letter  might  have  been  the  result  of  mere  sus- 
picion of  her  identity.  If  that  had  been  the  case, 
he  would  have  written  to  you  alone  in  reply,  and 
not  scattered  these  detracting  missives  throughout 
the  village." 

"That  seems  reasonable,"  said  Strayhorn,  shak- 
ing his  head  dubiously. 


THE  BREAKING  OF  THE   SEAL.  311 

"Then,"  I  continued,  ''mark  the  malice  in  the 
next  step.  The  leading  men  of  the  village  are 
carefully  canvassed,  omitting  the  two  who  are 
known  to  be  her  most  active  friends.  Why  ?  Evi- 
dently in  order  that  his  slanderous  attack  may  be- 
come well  grounded  in  the  public  mind  before  her 
friends  hear  of  it  and  take  measures  to  counteract 
it." 

"  It  certainly  looks  as  if  that  were  the  case,"  as- 
sented Strayhorn. 

"There  can  be  no  doubt  about  it.  Now,  gentle- 
men, what  are  the  facts — I  do  not  mean  all  the 
facts,  but  the  facts  that  everybody  knows  ?  In  the 
first  place,  a  woman  comes  here  as  a  teacher,  not 
on  her  own  application,  but  on  the  invitation — I 
may  say  the  solicitation — of  the  Board." 

"We  acted  on  Dr.  Colton^s  recommendation," 
said  Strayhorn. 

"Of  which  she  knew  nothing,  I  believe." 

"That  is  what  the  doctor  said,  and  her  letter  of 
acceptance  referred  to  her  election  as  a  complete 
surprise,"  said  the  younger  trustee. 

"And  I  have  reason  to  know  that  such  was  the 
fact,"  I  continued.  "  Now,  this  teacher  has  been 
here  among  us  some  four  or  five  years,  and  during 
that  time  has,  I  believe,  on  all  occasions  demeaned 
herself  as  a  lady." 


312  BLACK  ICE. 

"  There  can  be  no  doubt  of  that,"  said  the  elder 
of  my  listeners. 

"She  has  proved  herself  so  efficient,  that  she  has 
been  placed  in  the  most  responsible  position  in  the 
school,  and  has  filled  it  to  your  entire  satisfaction." 

"The  best  principal  we  have  had,"  said  Stray- 
horn.  "  I  was  opposed  to  her  appointment,  but 
must  admit  the  truth." 

He  said  it  doggedly,  as  if  to  clear  himself  from 
any  suspicion  of  injustice. 

"In  addition  to  her  duties  in  the  school,  she  has 
interested  herself  in  whatever  affects  the  welfare  of 
the  village,  making  herself  an  active  and  beneficent 
influence  in  it.     Is  this  not  true?" 

"She  has  certainly  done  a  great  deal  for  our 
young  people,"  said  Strayhorn,  cautiously. 

"And  there  isn't  a  poor  family  in  the  town  she 
has  not  benefited  in  one  way  or  another,"  added  our 
associate,  warmly. 

"  During  all  this  time  I  believe  she  has  kept  her- 
self entirely  excluded  from  society,  except  so  far 
as  her  work  demanded  the  co-operation  of  others. 
She  has  lived  quietly  at  her  lodgings;  doing  her 
work  in  the  school;  visiting  the  poor;  providing 
instructive  amusement  for  our  children,  her  pupils; 
neither  seeking  nor  avoiding  society;  having  no 
intimates." 


THE  BREAKING  OF   THE   SEAL.  313 

"That  is  all  true,"  said  Strayhorn.  "I  guess 
your  house  and  Dr.  Colton's  are  about  the  only 
ones  she  has  entered  in  a  social  way  in  all  that 
time." 

"  And  only  a  few  times  has  she  visited  those," 
I  added.  "  Yet  she  has  not  shrunk  from  observa- 
tion. In  the  church  or  wherever  her  self-imposed 
duties  have  made  it  necessary  for  her  to  do  so,  she 
has,  I  think,  shown  herself  ready  to  mingle  freely 
with  our  people." 

"  O,  certainly,"  they  murmured. 

"She  has  not  been  without  admirers,"  I  con- 
tinued. "  Men  of  whose  admiration  any  woman 
might  be  proud,  and  whom  an  adventuress,  as  this 
fellow  wishes  to  imply  that  she  is,  would  regard  as 
very  flattering  conquests,  have  offered  suit  to  her. 
Yet  if  I  am  correctly  informed,  she  has  encouraged 
none  of  these,  but,  on  the  contrary,  has  quietly  and 
gently,  but  at  the  same  time  effectually,  discour- 
aged them." 

"  I  can  vouch  for  that,"  said  Martindale,  emphat- 
ically. 

"So  skillfully  has  she  maintained  this  course,"  I 
went  on,  "  that  no  would-be  suitor  has  been  hu- 
miliated, and  her  name  has  not  been  linked  even 
in  the  lightest  whispered  gossip  with  that  of  any 
man." 


314  BLACK  ICE. 

"  That's  exactly  so,"  ejaculated  Martindale. 
"In  other  words,  Caesar  himself  could  not  have 
asked  that  his  wife  should  bear  herself  more  dis- 
creetly than  she   has   done  under  what  it  is   now  ^ 
evident  must  have  been  very  trying  circumstances. 
Your   wife    and    mine,    Mr.    Strayhorn,    have     not 
more  blameless  lives,  apparently,  than  she." 
''  Very  true,"  assented  the  elder  man. 
"Now,  gentlemen,"  I  said,  "one  of  two   things 
is    unquestionably    true:    either  she  is  this  man's 
wife  or  she  is  not." 

"  I  should  say  there  was  no  doubt  about  that, 
Mr.  Reynolds,"  said  Strayhorn,  with  the  hint  of  a 
smile  upon  his  face. 

"  Very  well,  now;  if  she  is  his  wife,  she  has  done 
nothing  while  here  to  justify  such  imputation  as 
he  has  cast  on  her  in  this  letter  ?" 
"Not  that  anybody  knows  of." 
"  If  there  has  been  a  separation,  or  an  abandon- 
ment as  he  insinuates,  who  is  most  likely  to  have 
been  at  fault — the  man  who  pursues  his  fleeing  wife 
in  this  manner,  or  the  woman  who  makes  herself  a 
blessing  to  every  community  among  whom  fate 
casts  her  lot  ?" 

"  The  chances  are  of  course  in  her  favor,"  said 
Strayhorn;  "but  she  ought  not  to  have  practiced 
deception.  That  looks  bad,  Mr.  Reynolds,  say 
what  you  may."  '  — 


THE  BREAKING   OF   THE   SEAL.  315 

"  I  am  not  so  sure  about  that,  Mr.  Strayhorn. 
Let  us  suppose  a  case.  You  have  a  daughter,  only- 
just  married,  on  whom  this  woman  left  the  im- 
press of  a  pure  mind  ?" 

"She  certainly  did  have  great  influence  with 
Mira,  and  the  girl  just  worships  her,"  said  the  old 
man,  softening. 

''Well,  now,  suppose  that  after  your  death  your 
daughter's  husband  should  mistreat  her — we  will 
not  say  how,  as  badly  as  you  can  imagine — until 
she  was  compelled  to  go  and  earn  her  own  living; 
and  then  suppose  he  should  seek  to  prevent  her 
from  enjoying  even  this  poor  privilege  by  sending 
to  her  employers  and  associates  such  missives  as 
these," — holding  the  letters  toward  them, — "don't 
you  think  she  would  be  justified  in  assuming  any 
name,  or  making  use  of  any  subterfuge,  to  secure 
the  right  of  peaceable  maintenance  ?" 

"Of  course,  of  course  !"  said  the  old  man,  with 
emphatic  decisiveness. 

"  And  would  you  not  think  it  was  a  mean  thing 
if  men  blamed  her,  and  refused  her  work,  simply 
because  her  husband  pursued  her  with  such  base 
insinuations  ?" 

"  That's  what  it  would  be,  anyhow,"  said  Mar- 
tindale. 

"  That's  just  my  opinion,  gentlemen,  and  I  don't 


316  BLACK  ICE. 

think  we  ought  to  do  what  we  all  agree  to  be 
mean  and  cowardly." 

*' But  we  were  in  hopes,  Mr.  Reynolds,  that  you 
would  be  able  to  shed  some  light  upon  this 
matter,"  said  Strayhorn,  piteously, — "  you  or  Dr. 
Colton." 

'*  Dr.  Colton  knows  hardly  more  than  I  do  of  the 
lady  in  question.  He  found  her  doing  noble  work, 
and  asked  no  questions  in  regard  to  her  past." 

"  You  know  nothing,  then,  about  this  man 
Compton?  I  thought  the  name  seemed  to  strike 
you." 

"The  man  who  signed  these  letters  was  known 
to  me  when  he  was  young.  I  have  not  seen  him 
since,  and  know  but  little  of  him." 

"Mrs. — ah — Mrs.  Somers  has  never  spoken  to 
you  of  her  marriage,  then  ?" 

"  Not  a  word." 

"Does  she  know  that  you  are  acquainted  with 
the  man  who  claims  to  be  her  husband?" 

"She  has  known  it  for  a  few  days  only.  May  I 
ask  if  she  is  aware  of  these  letters,  and  the  excite- 
ment they  are  making?" 

"  I  understand  that  she  has  seen  -one  of  them," 
answered  Strayhorn.  "The  fact  is,  the  minister 
was  so  troubled  about  it — she  being  one  of  the 
most  active  of  his  flock — that  he  sent  the  one  he 


THE  BREAKING  OF   THE   SEAL,  317 

had  received  to  her  with  a  request  that  she  would 
make  any  explanation  she  saw  fit." 

"Did  she  explain  ?" 

"She  answered  his  letter,"  said  Martindale, 
laughing,  "and  the  dominie  has  been  trying  to  rent 
a  knot-hole  to  crawl  into,  ever  since." 

"  Have  you  seen  her  reply  ?" 

*' Yes;  he  showed  it  to  a  few  of  us  last  night." 

"And  what  did  she  say?" 

"She  said  that  when  Mr.  Fred  H.  Compton,  or 
any  one  else,  saw  fit  to  make  charges  affecting  her 
good  name  she  would  be  ready  and  willing  to  meet 
them.  As  for  the  rest,  she  did  not  suppose  either 
he  or  the  church  or  the  people  of  Gladesboro  had 
any  especial  interest  in  her  personal  affairs,  or  any 
right  to  demand  of  her  an  explanation  of  another's 
acts  or  motives." 

"  She  is  quite  right,  too,"  I  exclaimed  warmly, 

"Yes,  I  suppose  she  is,"  said  the  old  man,  regret- 
fully; "but,  for  one,  I  wish  the  whole  matter  had 
never  happened.  Such  things  are  not  pleasant, 
and,  put  whatever  interpretation  you  please  on  the 
affair,  it  is  sure  to  impair  her  usefulness  and,  I  fear, 
make  a  good  many  of  us  unhappy." 

I  could  but  share  the  old  man's  apprehensions; 
and  when  they  departed,  having  first  notified  me 
of   a    meeting  of   the   Board    to  be   held   the   next 


318  BLACK  ICE. 

night,  I  must  confess  that,  with  all  my  confidence 
in  Mrs.  Somers,  or  Mrs.  Compton,  or  whoever  she 
might  be,  I  looked  forward  to  a  long,  unpleasant, 
and,  on  the  whole,  perhaps  unprofitable  struggle 
to  retain  her  in  the  position  she  held.  Before  the 
time  appointed  for  the  meeting,  however,  events  oc- 
curred which  greatly  simplified  the  task  before  us. 


CHAPTER   XV. 

TOO    FINELY    TEMPERED. 

TTARDLY  had  my  visitors  departed,  when  Hes- 
ter returned  in  a  state  of  great  excitement. 
It  was  evident  that  the  commotion  in  the  village 
had  not  been  at  all  magnified  by  my  friends  of  the 
Board.  Hester  had  scarcely  begun  to  unburden 
herself  of  the  tale  of  detraction  which  was  afloat  in 
the  little  hamlet,  when  Bertha  knocked  at  the 
library  door,  and  with  tearful  eyes,  and  hot,  in- 
dignant words,  implored  me  to  go  at  once  to  the 
aid  of  her  beloved  teacher.  Gladesboro  did  not 
often  have  a  sensation,  and  was  making  the  most 
of  this.  Men  and  women,  old  and  young,  were 
canvassing,  not  the  teacher's  merits,  but  the  atro- 
city of  her  conduct  in  neglecting  to  make  each 
and  every  one  of  them  the  special  confidant  of 
her  matrimonial  woes,  instead  of  hiding  with 
studious  care  the  interesting  episode  of  what  they 
all  felt  certain  must  be  a  most  eventful  life. 
Despite  all  that  she  had  done,  and  the  irreproach- 
able character  of  her  life  among    them,  hardly  a 


320  BLACK  ICE. 

voice  was  raised  in  her  defense.  Such  is  indeed 
"the  rarity  of  Ciiristian  cliarity"!  A  self-con- 
fessed sinner  of  the  grossest  type  would  no  doubt 
have  been  received  with  open  arms  by  the  major- 
ity of  those  anxious  to  condemn  this  woman,  whose 
life,  so  far  as  they  knew  it,  had  been  fragrant  with 
the  perfume  of  good  works. 

Hester  is  one  of  those  even-tempered  mortals 
who  are  seldom  moved  to  tears;  but  what  she  had 
seen  and  heard  was  too  much  for  her  composure, 
and  salty  drops  sparkled  on  her  long  lashes  as  she 
told  the  humiliating  stor^^ 

"  They  think  she  is  but  a  poor  weak  woman, 
who  has  no  friends  to  fight  her  battles  for  her," 
she  said  angrily,  "and  so  every  one  seems  to  vie 
with  his  neighbor  in  trying  to  work  her  ill." 

"  That  is  but  natural,"  I  answered,  with  philo- 
sophic composure.  "Darwin  used  the  wrong  term 
in  formulating  his  great  theory.  The  law  of  nature 
is  not  '  the  survival  of  the  fittest,'  but  the  survival 
of  the  toughest.  That  little  frail  bit  of  humanity 
is  no  doubt  worth  a  ten-acre  lot  full  of  such  crea- 
tures as  Fred  Compton,  yet  the  chances  are  that 
he  will  crush  and  worry  and  wear  her  out.  She 
is  the  '  fittest '  either  for  earth  or  heaven,  but  he 
is  the  toughest." 

"  Percy    Reynolds,"  exclaimed    Hester,    as    she 


TOO  FINELY   TEMPERED.  321 

turned  a  flushed  face  and  flashing  e3'es  upon  me,  *'I 
am  asliamed  of  you,  positively  ashamed  of  you  !" 

Hester  rarely  speaks  so  emphatically,  and  I 
could  not  help  noticing  how  very  becoming  was 
her  ingenuous  anger.     Perhaps  I  even  smiled. 

''O,  I  mean  it,"  she  reiterated.  "I  am  ashamed 
of  any  man  who  will  sit  still  and  let  a  brave  woman 
suffer  unjustly." 

"I  do  not  blame  you  at  all,  my  dear,"  I  answered 
mildly.  "Indeed,  I  may  say  I  share  your  senti- 
ments very  fully— so  fully  that  I  do  not  exclude 
those  of  your  sex  who  do  the  same  thing,  from  a 
like  feeling  of  humiliating  disapproval." 

*'What  can  a  woman  do  .^"  she  asked  with  a 
scornful  accent. 

"  I  might  respond,  what  can  a  man  do  in  such  a 
case  as  this,  m}'  dear.?" 

"But  we  women  are  not  school  trustees,  and 
ministers,  and  so  on— the  mouthpieces  of  public 
sentiment." 

"And  we  men  are  not  mothers,  and  wives,  and 
women  of  society — the  makers  of  public  sentiment," 
I  replied. 

Hester  laughed,  wiped  her  eyes,  turned  her  muff 
over   and    over    in    her    lap    half    a    dozen    times, 
smoothing  its  fur  with  her  dainty  gloved  hand. 
"  Percy,"  she  said,  looking  up  at  me  with  a  sud- 


322  BLACK  ICE. 

den  blush  spreading  over  her  face,  ''  may  I  do  as  I 
clioose  ?" 

''  Does  the  sun  ask  leave  to  shine  ?"  I  answered 
lightly. 

"  No.  I  am  not  jesting,"  she  rejoined.  "If  I  do 
just  what  my  feeling  prompts  me  to  do  in  this 
matter,  will  you — will  you — that  is — " 

"  O,  I  will  stand  by  you  to  the  death,  madam," 
I  exclaimed  melodramatically. 

"Of  course  you  will,"  she  laughed.  "A  man 
who  will  not  stand  by  his  wife  after  he  has  stood 
still  and  seen  her  get  into  trouble  is  hardly  worth 
having.  What  I  mean  is,  will  you  promise  not  to 
laueh  at  me  if  what  I  do  turns  out  not  to  be  the 
very  wisest  thing  I  might  have  done  ?" 

She  had  risen,  and  stood  at  the  end  of  the  desk 
at  which  I  sat  as  she  said  this.  I  laid  down  my 
pen,  and  taking  her  hand  in  both  of  mine,  kissed 
the  gloved  fingers,  as  I  answered  earnestly  : 

"  Hester,  if  ever  I  laughed  at  any  earnest  pur- 
pose of  yours,  I  pray  to  be  forgiven  as  for  a  hei- 
nous crime." 

"  O,  no,"  she  answered,  while  the  tears  flowed 
over  her  swollen  lids.  It  is  not  that  ;  but  if — if 
you  sli  )iiKl— if  I  should  make  a  very  bad  mistake, 
and  you  should  laugh  at  me,  Percy,  I — I  think  it 
would  kill  rpe." 


TOO  FINELY   TEMPERED.  323 

**You  will  make  no  mistake  in  following  the  in- 
clinations of  your  heart,  my  love." 

"  I  don't  know,  Percy,"  she  smiled  through  her 
tears.  "  I  am  awfully  afraid.  It  is  a  strange 
step  for  me  to  take — especially  without  you,  and 
of  course  you  cannot  appear  in  it  at  all  ;  but  you 
will  not  ever  be  sorry  if  it  fails,  will  you  ?" 

"  I  shall  always  be  proud  of  anything  you  may 
do  for  those  who  are  unjustly  treated,"  I  answered. 

^'Thenl  shall  go  and  bring  Mrs.  Somers  here 
for  lunch  during  the  noon  recess,  and  insist  upon 
her  making  her  home  with  us  until  this  trouble 
has  blown  over." 

I  confess  I  was  startled  at  the  boldness  of  this 
proposition.     I  half  stammered  in  reply, 

"  But  you  do  not  know — had  you  not  better  hear 
her  story  first,  my  dear?" 

"  Percy,"  said  Hester,  laying  her  hand  on  my 
arm,  "  I  am  a  woman  and  during  the  past  hour  I 
have  been  trying  to  put  myself  in  this  woman's 
place.  I  know  nothing  of  her  past,  but  this  I  do 
know  :  she  is  a  pure  woman,  or  my  eyes  and  in- 
stinct are  sadly  at  fault.  What  she  most  wants, 
or  what  I  should  want  in  her  place,  is  not  sym- 
pathy— not  kindness,  as  it  is  called — but  confi- 
dence, especially  from  another  woman.  This  is 
what  I  mean  to  show.     I  do  not  mean  to  ask  her 


324  BLACK  ICE. 

Story.  I  do  not  wish  to  hear  it,  not  now  at  least. 
I  want  to  say  to  her,  *  I  know  nothing  of  your  past, 
and  ask  nothing  of  explanation  or  guaranty.  I 
know  you  are  a  brave,  pure  woman  who  needs  a 
friend — a  home — the  moral  support  of  one  who 
trusts  implicitly.  Come  with  me  and  make  my 
home  your  citadel." 

"  But  if  she  will  not  come  ?"  I  suggested. 

"  I  will  make  her  come,"  said  Hester  with  deter- 
mination. 

"Then,  my  dear,"  I  said  solemnly,  "you  will 
succor  one  who,  in  my  opinion,  has  more  need  of  a 
friendly  refuge  than  any  castaway." 

*'But — but  Bertha  and  the  girls,  Percy.  Have 
you  thought  of  them  ?"  she  asked  with  tender  mis- 
giving. 

"  They  cannot  have  a  better  lesson  than  such  an 
example.  Are  you  not  doing  as  you  would  wish 
them  to  do,  or  as  you  would  wish  others  might  do 
for  them  in  like  trouble  ?" 

She  hesitated  no  longer,  but,  with  a  face  too 
radiant  to  go  unkissed,  set  forth  upon  her  errand 
of  compassion.  In  half  an  hour  Mrs.  Somers  was 
brought  a  deluded  prisoner  to  Cragholt,  and  after 
luncheon  informed  of  tlie  only  terms  on  which  she 
could  be  allowed  to  depart.  The  Doctor  had  come 
in  meanwhile,  and  was  one  of  the  council  who  met 


TOO  FINELY   TEMPERED.  325 

in  the  library  to  await  her  decision.  It  was  pieasant 
to  note  the  little  lady's  surprise  and  gratification 
struggle  with  a  sense  of  anger  and  humiliation. 

"  O,  I  cannot  do  it,  Mrs.  Reynolds,"  she  de- 
clared, "  I  cannot  do  it.  I  do  not  think  you  ought 
to  ask  it." 

*'  I  do  not  ask  it,"  said  Hester.  "  I  demand  it  as 
a  right.  You  have  been  kind  to  others,  which 
gives  us  the  right  to  be  kind  to  you." 

"  But  you  do  not  know  me,  Mrs.  Reynolds,  and 
I  am  not  ready  to  repay  your  kindness  with  the 
confidence  it  deserves." 

"  We  do  not  ask  your  confidence.  We  know  what 
you  are  and  do  not  care  who  you  are,"  said  Hester, 
firmly.  "  If  the  time  ever  comes  when  you  wish  to 
speak  of  the  past,  we  shall  be  glad  to  hear.  You 
will  put  yourself  under  no  obligation  by  coming 
here,  but  will  be  at  perfect  liberty  to  speak  or 
keep  silent  as  you  may  choose." 

*'  And  do  you  freely  assent  to  this  ?"  she  asked, 
looking  toward  me  in  surprise. 

"  Treason  !  treason  !"  shouted  the  doctor  be- 
fore I  had  time  to  reply.  "  No  one  but  you,  Mrs. 
Somers,  would  have  dared  question  the  paramount 
sovereignty  of  the  mistress  of  Cragholt." 

"  Indeed,  Mrs.  Somers,"  I  hastened  to  add, 
"nothing    could    have    my  warmer   approval.     I 


326  BLACK  ICE, 

think  you  owe  it  not  only  to  yourself,  but  to  us — 
I  mean  the  doctor  and  myself  especially — to  ac- 
cept." 

"  You  are  all  very  kind,"  she  said  with  a  sweet, 
weary  smile,  as  she  laid  her  hand  caressingly  upon 
Hester's  open  palm;  "but  I  cannot  do  it — indeed 
I  cannot." 

While  she  spoke,  the  doctor  had  been  gazing 
curiously  in  her  face. 

"  Pardon  me,  Mrs.  Somers,"  he  said  seriously. 
*'  I  have  a  word  to  say  on  this  matter.  You  will 
not  listen  to  me  as  your  friend.  Let  us  see  if  you 
will  also  be  deaf  to  the  physician.  Allow  me  to 
feel  your  pulse." 

He  took  out  his  watch  and  counted  the  beats. 
Then  he  looked  searchingly  into  her  eyes,  put  his 
finger  on  the  lid  of  one,  closed  it  for  a  moment, 
then  watched  it  keenly  when  the  hd  was  raised. 

"  Mrs.  Reynolds,"  he  said  with  unusual  earnest- 
ness, when  his  examination  was  concluded,  "you 
must  not  let  this  woman's  sensibility  influence  you 
to  recall  your  invitation.  You  little  know  how 
much  she  needs  the  very  refuge  you  have  offered 
her." 

But  now  it  seemed  as  if  all  our  kindly  scheming 
was  to  be  in  vain.  Hester  was  not  accustomed  to 
ask  twice,  and  the  refusal  of  Mrs.  Somers  had  to  her 


327 

mind  been  aggravated  in  its  ungraciousness  by 
the  fact  of  her  own  self-sacrifice  in  making  it.  Her 
tone  was  cool  enough,  therefore,  as  she  responded 
to  the  doctor's  earnest  appeal: 

"  I  cannot  compel  Mrs.  Somers  to  accept  our 
hospitality,  or  even  our  confidence." 

There  was  a  little  gasping  cry.  A  pair  of  slen- 
der white  hands  were  clasped  together  in  an  agony 
of  supplication  as  she  slid  to  the  floor,  and  buried 
her  liead  in  Hester's  lap. 

"  Don't  !  don't !"  she  wailed  in  piteous,  pleading 
tones.  "  It  is  so  long  since  I  have  expected  con- 
fidence that  I  do  not  know  how  to  meet  it !  Don't 
blame  me  !     Don't  !" 

Her  voice  rose  into  a  thin,  quavering  shriek,  as 
she  uttered  the  last  word.  Hester  tried  to  draw 
her  hand  from  the  hysteric  woman's  fierce  con- 
vulsive clutch. 

*'  Stop!  stop!"  cried  the  doctor,  seizing  Mrs. 
Somers  by  the  shoulder  and  shaking  her  rudely, 
while  he  glared  as  if  he  meant  to  strike. 

She  looked  up  at  him  with  a  gray  ashen  face 
and  blue  quivering  lips,  shutting  her  teeth  firmly 
and  drawing  her  breath  in  long,  gasping  sobs. 

The  doctor  loosed  her  hands  and  gave  some 
brief  directions  to  Hester,  who  rose  and  hurriedly 
withdrew.     He  sat  holding  Mrs.  Somers's  temples 


828  BLACK  ICE. 

and  looking  steadily  into  her  eyes,  while  he  told 
me  in  a  low  monotone  to  get  the  medicine-case 
from  his  overcoat  pocket  and  take  from  it  a  small 
vial  which  he  described.  She  moaned  with  every 
stertorous  breath:  her  eyes  glared  fixedly,  and  the 
pupils  seemed  to  cover  the  whole  iris.  Without 
taking  his  eyes  from  her  face,  the  doctor  directed 
me  to  put  a  few  drops  of  the  contents  of  the  vial 
in  water  and  give  it  to  her.  I  poured  out  the 
medicine,  and  held  the  glass  to  her  lips.  She  shook 
her  head  angrily,  as  if  its  touch  annoyed  her. 

"  Take  it  !"  said  the  doctor,  sternly. 

She  made  another  gesture  of  dissent. 

"  Take  it!"  he  repeated,  still  more  imperatively. 

She  looked  into  his  eyes  a  moment  with  a  curious 
gaze  that  somehow  made  me  shudder;  then  opened 
her  lips  mechanicall}^  and  swallowed  the  potion. 
Almost  instantly  she  became  drowsy.  Then  the 
doctor  relaxed  his  grasp  upon  her  hand,  drew  her 
head  tenderly  down  upon  his  knee,  and  began  to 
smooth  her  soft  brown  tresses. 

**  Poor  girl,"  he  murmured.  *'  She  must  have 
suffered  fearfully  to  bring  her  into  such  a  state. 
Strong  as  she  is  in  some  directions,  she  is  weaker 
than  a  child  in  others.  That  is  often  the  way  with 
a  brain  that  is  over-strained.  It  will  get  strong 
enough  on  every  subject  and  in  every  direction  but 


TOO  FINELY  TEMPERED.  329 

one.  The  least  recurrence  to  that  destroys  its 
equilibrium  or  snaps  the  cord  of  life.  I  have 
known  men  whose  business  troubles  affected  them 
so  that  sometimes  the  sight  of  money,  a  column 
of  figures,  or  again  the  very  mention  of  the 
business  in  which  they  were  engaged,  completely 
unnerved  tliem  and  made  them,  though  rational 
enough  in  other  respects,  absolutely  maniacal. 

"Ah,  Mrs.  Reynolds,"  he  continued  as  Hester 
reappeared,  "  there  is  no  longer  any  question  of 
her  acceptance  of  your  invitation  or  your  refusal 
of  her  ungracious  assent.  The  merest  Christian 
charity  makes  her  your  enforced  guest  for  an  in- 
definite time.  Meantime  you  may  be  sure  that  your 
self-sacrificing  kindness  will  in  the  end  be  richly 
rewarded." 

Hester  would  have  reproached  herself,  but  he 
would  not  allow  a  word. 

"  It  is  best  so,"  he  said  gravely.  "  If  the  blow 
had  been  deferred,  and  the  excitement  and  strain 
continued,  I  could  not  have  answered  for  the  results 
As  it  is,  a  hot  bath  and  a  night's  rest,  or,  at  the 
worst,  a  few  days  of  quiet,  will  probably  restore 
her." 

We  bore  her  to  the  room  Hester  had  prepared, 
and  Hester  went  herself  to  order  the  things  most 
needed  to  be  brought  from  her  lodgings;  and  long 


330  BLACK  ICE. 

before  night  it  was  known  throughout  the  village 
that  Mrs.  Somers  was  sick  at  Cragholt,  and  on  her 
recovery  would  reside  there  as  one  of  the  family. 
The  effect  of  these  things  was  indeed  wonderful. 
Before  the  Board  of  Directors  met  next  night,  we 
were  overwhelmed  with  petitions  in  her  favor. 
There  were  so  many  of  the  citizens  in  attendance, 
that  it  was  proposed  that  we  adjourn  to  the  Town 
Hall.  This  we  did;  and  when  the  meeting  was 
organized,  the  old  doctor  told  in  fiery  words  all 
that  was  known  of  the  teacher's  story, — not  for- 
getting Hester's  part, — and  spoke  of  her  present 
condition.  All  the  ministers  of  the  town  had  a 
warm  word  of  praise  for  her  good  works  and  patient 
spirit;  there  were  some  touching  incidents  roughly 
told  by  a  few  of  the  recipients  of  good  from  her 
hands,  and  Gladesboro  resolved  to  stand  by  its 
lady-principal.  There  were  many  muttered  hints 
that  if  Mr.  Fred  Compton  showed  himself  in  that 
region  he  would  get  rough  treatment. 


CHAPTER   XVI. 
A    fool's    punishment. 

T  HAD  returned  from  the  meeting  of  the  Board, 
finished  telling  Hester  of  the  demonstration 
in  favor  of  her  protegee,  kissed  the  dear  woman 
good-night,  and  addressed  myself  again  to  work, 
hoping  to  make  up  the  deficit  in  the  day's  neg- 
lected task,  when  there  came  a  light  tap  upon 
the  window,  and  looking  up  I  saw  the  pale  face 
of  George  Hartzell,  framed  in  the  wide  sash  and 
set  in  the  inky  blackness  of  the  clouded  night. 

In  answer  to  his  beckoning  signal,  I  crossed  the 
room  on  tiptoe,  and  opened  the  window.  I  do 
not  know  why  I  should  have  taken  the  precaution  to 
step  lightly,  I  was  in  my  own  house,  and  Hartzell 
was  my  friend.  I  had  no  need  to  move  stealthily, 
nor,  after  he  had  entered,  to  greet  him  in  a  whisper 
and  inquire  what  was  the  matter. 

His  face  was  pale,  but  wrong-doers  are  not  the 
only  persons  whose  pallor  is  often  noticeable.  I  do 
not  even  know  why  I  should  have  coupled  Hartzell 
with  the  idea  of  a  malefactor,  but  I  did;  and  when 


332  BLACK  ICE, 

he  pushed  by  me  with  only  a  muttered  "  Nothing" 
in  answer  to  my  whispered  inquiry,  I  carefully 
closed  the  blinds  and  drew  down  the  shades  to  pre- 
vent observation  from  without,  before  attempting 
any  further  conversation.  When  I  had  done  this 
and  returned  to  my  desk,  I  found  Hartzell  sitting 
by  the  fire,  his  slouch-hat  drawn  down  over  his 
handsome  face,  evidently  absorbed  in  meditation 
of  an  unpleasant  character.  I  was  about  to  pro- 
pound an  inquiry,  when  I  recollected  that  friend- 
ship sometimes  manifests  itself  most  acceptably  by 
silence.  Concluding  that  he  preferred,  for  the 
present  at  least,  his  own  thoughts  to  my  inquiries, 
I  turned  again  to  my  interrupted  work,  and  was 
soon  absorbed  in  the  delicate  balancing  of  reasons 
pro  and  con  which  constitutes  the  bulk  of  a  scien- 
tific expert's  report.  I  do  not  know  how  long  I  had 
worked,  but  I  had  quite  forgotten  Hartzell's  pres- 
ence until  I  was  startled  by  his  vehemently  ex- 
claiming, 

"Reynolds,  do  you  know  I  am  a  scoundrel?" 
"  Really,  George,"  I  answered  lightly,  "  I  had 
not  entertained  that  notion  until  I  saw  your  face 
outside  the  window  there.  It  struck  me  then 
that  such  a  visage  did  not  match  well  with  an 
easy  conscience." 

**  Don't  laugh  at  me,"  he  exclaimed,  looking  up, 


A   FOOLS  PUNISHMENT.  333 

his  face  drawn  with  pain,  "but  tell  me  how  she 
is." 

It  struck  me  in  an  instant  that  it  was  he  who  had 
played  the  spy  upon  the  fair  sufferer  in  the  room 
above.  All  the  kind  feeling  I  had  had  for  him  in 
that  moment  turned  to  scorn.  I  was  angry  at  my- 
self for  having  admitted  him  beneath  my  roof. 
If  he  had  come  to  my  window  an  actual  criminal, 
under  the  ban  of  the  law,  I  am  afraid  I  should 
have  given  him  shelter,  fed  him,  and  perhaps  have 
helped  him  to  escape.  I  have  lived  so  much  in 
the  far  West  that  I  have  lost  some  of  the  tender 
regard  for  the  forms  of  law  which  constitutes 
so  important  a  part  of  our  Eastern  civilization; 
but  the  thought  that  he  should  have  pursued 
and  persecuted  a  woman,  or  aided  in  her  per- 
secution by  another,  filled  me  with  indigna- 
tion and  disgust.  I  could  have  spurned  him 
with  my  foot.  This  man,  who  had  eaten  my 
salt,  I  felt  had  betrayed  my  confidence  to  stab 
a  helpless  woman  who  had  fled  to  my  hearth 
for  shelter.  So  I  answered,  sternly  enough,  no 
doubt,  for  my  hands  were  opening  and  shutting 
nervously  with  an  almost  irrepressible  desire  to 
do  him  violence: 

"  She?     Whom  do  you  mean,  sir?" 


334  BLACK  ICE. 

"Whom    should    I   mean    but    Mrs. the — the 

woman  you  have  given  shelter." 

'*  You  mean  Mrs.  Somers." 

"I  mean  the  woman  who  calls  herself  Mrs. 
Somers." 

"  See  here,  George  Hartzell,  Mrs.  Somers  is 
living  under  my  roof  as  one  of  my  family.  As 
long  as  she  sustains  this  relation  to  us  she  is  en- 
titled to  the  same  protection  I  would  accord  to 
any  other  member  of  my  household.  I  will  hear 
no  imputation  against  her." 

"I  suppose  you  know  she  is  the  wife  of  Fred 
Compton  ?" 

"I  know  she  is  my  guest,  and  not  to  be  maligned 
in  my  presence,"  I  replied,  somewhat  threateningly, 
perhaps. 

"What  object  could  I  have,  Reynolds,  in  malign- 
ing my  brother's  wife?" 

"Your  brother's  wife  ?" 

"  Certainly.  You  did  not  know  that  Fred  Comp- 
ton was  my  brother  ?" 

"  Never  heard  of  it." 

"Very  few  people  have — at  least  from  me.  He 
is  not  a  relation  of  whom  one  is  likely  to  feel 
very  proud." 

"But  how— what?" 

"You  do  not  undej-stand  the  relationship  ?  Well, 


A   FOOrS  PUNISHMENT.  335 

he  was  my  mother's  son  by  her  first  husband,  and 
resembled  the  father  in  character.  I  am  thought 
to  be  like  him  in  appearance,  and  for  the  last  few- 
days  I  have  been  thinking  that  the  parallel  ought 
not  to  stop  there.  On  his  father's  death  he  was 
adopted  by  his  uncle,  his  father's  brother,  who  re- 
fused to  do  anything  for  my  mother,  although 
she  had  been  left  destitute,  unless  the  boy  was 
given  up  to  him  and  ceased  to  have  any  inter- 
course with  his  mother.  Hunger — the  actual  fear 
of  starvation,  Reynolds — compelled  the  delicately- 
nurtured  woman  to  accept  these  cruel  terms, 
though  the  act  made  her  whole  after-life  a  bur- 
den. No  matter;  they  were  rigidly  enforced.  She 
was  fairly  provided  for,  but  soon  remarried,  there- 
by escaping  from  the  humiliating  obligation  to 
her  husband's  brother.  Fred  observed  the  terms 
of  his  adoption  faithfully,  even  after  his  uncle's 
death,  and  it  was  only  just  before  his  marriage  with 
Miss  Matson  that  he  visited  my  mother.  I  had 
never  heard  anything  but  good  of  this  elder  brother 
. — the  mother's  love  being  so  strong  as  to  lay  no 
blame  at  his  door  for  the  continuing  desertion. 
Of  course  I  was  greatly  fascinated  by  the  hand- 
some young  fellow  who  came  for  a  short  visit  to 
our  humble  home.  I  even  felt  hurt  by  my  fa- 
ther's coolness  toward  him.    It  was  only  when  that 


336  BLACK  ICE. 

parent  was  upon  his  death-bed,  and  solemnly  laid 
upon  me  in  my  tender  years  the  burden  of  caring 
for  my  mother's  welfare,  that  I  learned  what  a 
heartless  scapegrace  my  handsome  brother  was. 
From  him  I  learned  of  Fred's  treatment  of  his  wife 
— his  first  wife,  I  mean,  I  beg  your  pardon,"  he 
continued,  noticing  my  frown;  *' I  assure  you  I 
mean  no  disrespect.  I  haven't  the  slightest  doubt 
of  the  fact.     I  wish  to  God  I  had!" 

*'You  mean  that  Mrs.  Somers  is  Fred's  wife?" 

"Yes." 

"  Never  mind  that  now.     Go  on." 

*'Soon  after  my  father's  death  I  found  that  the 
only  way  to  keep  my  mother  from  squandering 
our  little  store  upon  Fred — who  had  already  spent 
his  own  inheritance — was  to  remove  her  from  his 
influence.  She  was  a  just  woman  in  purpose, 
though  a  weak  one  in  her  love,  and  I  knew  that  if 
I  could  keep  her  hidden  from  him,  she  would  not 
only  be  relieved  from  his  importunity,  but  be  much 
more  comfortable  and  happy.  After  a  peculiarly 
flagrant  breach  of  confidence  on  Fred's  part,  who 
had  now  become  a  confirmed  gambler,  if  not 
something  worse,  she  consented  to  sever  all  con- 
nection with  him.  I  sold  off  our  little  property, 
gave  my  mother  a  pleasure-trip  to  the  West,  and 
returning,  settled  at  this  place,  she   promising  not 


A   FOOL'S  PUNISHMENT.  337 

to  let  Fred  know  our  whereabouts.  To  prevent 
his  discovering  us,  we  had  to  break  off  all  inter- 
course with  our  friends.  Fortunately  we  had  but 
few.  To  prevent  my  mother  from  repining  at 
their  loss,  I  devoted  myself  to  her,  almost  to  the 
exclusion,  as  you  know,  of  other  society.  This 
life  suited  my  inclination,  and  we  lived  happily 
and  peacefully  until  this  woman  came." 

"  You  mean  Mrs.  Somers  ?"  I  interrupted  coldly. 

"  I  mean  my  brother's  wife." 

"Well,  how  did  she  disturb  your  serenity?" 

"  How  did  she  disturb  it  ?  My  God  !"  cried 
Hartzell,  springing  from  his  chair.  *'She  made 
me  love  her  !" 

**  You  r 

"Great  heavens!  do  you  suppose  because  your 
own  heart  is  full  of  joys,  and  your  home  overflow- 
ing with  delights,  that  others  have  no  capacity  for 
love  ?  I  have  lived  only  on  love  of  her  since  the 
night  she  first  landed  in  Gladesboro!" 

"  You  have  kept  your  devotion  very  quiet,"  I 
said,  almost  with  a  sneer.  His  kinship  with  Comp- 
Jon,  and  the  conviction  that  he  had  betrayed  this 
woman  to  her  persecutor,  made  me  distrust  even 
his  love. 

** Very  true,"  he  answered  proudly.  "The  little 
we  had,  together  with  what  I  could  earn,  was  barely 


338  BLACK  ICE. 

sufficient  for  my  mother's  comfort.  My  first  duty 
was  to  her.  I  waited  till  the  end  should  come,  in- 
tending then  to  speak;  but  a  horrible  revelation 
was  in  store  for  me.  Before  her  death  my  mother's 
fortitude  gave  way.  She  could  not  resist  the 
promptings  of  her  heart,  and  wrote  to  her  eldest 
son,  disclosing  our  hiding-place  and  asking  him 
to  visit  us.  He  was  on  his  way  here  when  death 
overtook  her.  But  my  heart  was  tender  with  the 
hope  of  love,  as  well  as  sore  from  bereavement. 
So  in  writing  to  him  I  foolishly  enough  referred 
to  my  love,  and  the  hope  I  entertained  of  making 
a  home-nest  for  myself." 

"Poor  fellow!"  I  exclaimed,  "how  could  you 
keep  on  nourishing  such  a  hopeless  passion  ?" 

"  Why  should  it  be  hopeless  ?     I  thought  her  a 

widow;  I  am  not  so  unattractive  as  to  make  that 

an  insuperable  objection.  I  loved  her  as  man  rarely 

does,  and  she  was  very  kind." 

"  Yes;   too  kind  to  give  you  hope  that  she  would 
i 
'■  ever  love  you." 

"  O,  I  would  have  compelled  her  to  love  me  if 
this  dark  shadow  had  not  come  between  us.  Even 
as  it  is,  I  would  rather  she  were  dead  than  see  her 
the  wife  of  another.  I  thought,  as  you  were  re- 
lating your  adventure  on  the  ice  the  other  night, 
that  if  I  had  her  in  the  sweeping  current  yonder,  I 


A   FOOL'S  PUNISHMENT.  339 

would  take  her  down  under  the  smooth,  imprison- 
ing ice,  and  die  with  her  in  my  arms, — mine  still, 
though  dead, — never  a  look  or  smile  or  kiss  given 
to  another!  My  God!  I  would  kill  her  now,  rather 
than  see  her  fall  to  another's  lot." 

"  I  recognize  your  relationship  to  Fred  Compton 
now,"  I  said,  as  he  strode  savagely  back  and  forth 
across  the  room. 

"Don't  say  that,  Reynolds."  He  stopped  his 
walk,  and  stood  grasping  one  of  the  dowelings  on 
the  back  of  the  desk  at  which  I  sat.  ''Don't  say 
that.  I  may  be  hot-tempered  and  selfish,  but  I 
never  purposely  did  harm  to  any  one." 

His  white  face,  drawn  with  suffering,  attested 
his  sincerity. 

"  I  did  not  mean  to  do  her  harm,"  he  con- 
tinued. "  How  could  I,  when  I  loved  her  so  ?  My 
mother  knew  my  passion  and  my  hope.  But  she 
could  not  think  of  any  woman  coming  between  us, 
and  I  promised  that  I  would  utter  no  word,  make 
no  sign,  while  she  lived.  She  knew  I  worshiped 
from  a  distance,  however,  and  it  cut  her  to  the 
quick.  I  suppose  the  failure  of  her  efforts  to 
establish  any  intimacy  with  the  object  of  my 
love  increased  her  dislike.  At  least  she  also 
had  written  to  Fred  about  it,  as  it  appears,  and 
when  he  answered  my  letter  he  rallied  me  upon  it, 


340  BLACK  ICE. 

inquired  the  name  of  my  inamorata,  and  felicitated 
me  upon  the  prospect  of  matrimony — two  ventures 
in  which,  he  said,  had  thoroughly  satisfied  him. 
In  my  reply,  of  course,  I  answered  his  queries.  It 
was  some  months  before  I  wrote,  and  then  the 
letter  was  a  long  time  reaching  him.  He  answered 
quickly,  asking  me  to  give  a  complete  description 
of  the  woman  and  tell  how  and  when  she  came 
to  the  village,  adding  that  he  suspected  her  of 
being  an  adventuress. 

"I  laughed  at  the  idea,  but  fell  into  his  trap.  I 
received  a  letter  saying  that  the  so-called  Mrs. 
Somers  was  his  wife.  He  said  he  cared  nothing 
what  became  of  her,  but  supposed  I  would  like 
to  know  who  my  enchantress  really  was.  To 
this  I  answered  incredulously  and  angrily,  but  I 
could  not  wholly  shake  off  the  impression  which 
his  letter  made  upon  my  mind,  although  I  did  not 
for  a  moment  give  it  credence.  I  had  intended  to 
declare  myself  as  soon  as  my  mother's  death  was 
far  enough  away  to  make  such  a  thing  proper. 
But  I  could  neither  get  nor  make  a  reasonable 
opportunity.  She  seemed  to  avoid  me,  not,  I 
thought,  from  dislike,  but  from  a  fixed  deter- 
mination to  avoid  all  society  of  a  private  or 
personal  character.  To  overcome  this  I  devoted, 
myself  to   those  things    in  which    she   was    inter- 


A  FOOL'S  PUNISHMENT.  341 

ested,  and  met  her  in  every  company  she  attend- 
ed. Yet  I  could  not  get  nearer.  I  was  not  easy 
to  discourage,  however,  and  all  the  more  deter- 
mined to  win  her  because  of  her  evident  resolu- 
tion to  discourage  admirers.  I  attributed  this,  you 
see,  to  that  feeling  which  prompts  the  delicate  and 
high-minded  widow  to  consider  herself  morally 
bound  to  devote  her  life  to  the  memory  of  the  dead 
■ — making  widowhood  a  far  more  piteous  sacrifice 
than  the  Indian  suttee.  Fred's  letter,  claiming  her 
as  his  wife,  was  received  just  before  Thanksgiving. 
It  made  little  impression  on  me  beyond  exciting 
my  anger,  until  I  met  her  here.  Then  the  doctor's 
story  filled  my  mind  with  suspicion  which  her 
agitation  at  your  unexpected  reference  to  Fred 
confirmed.  A  few  days  later,  I,  with  others,  re- 
ceived a  copy  of  his  circular  letter.  I  cannot 
understand  his  motive,  but  am  sure  it  is  malign. 
Of  course  she  is  lost  to  me,  whatever  may  occur. 
I  understand  that.  The  impression  of  fear  and 
horror  which  he  has  made  upon  her  can  never 
permit  even  a  friendly  confidence  in  his  brother ; 
it  is  best  that  she  should  never  know  my  feelings. 
I  must  go  away  and  begin  a  new  life;  but  if  I  can 
ever  be  of  service  to  her,  I  hope  you  will  let  me 
know.     I    will    meet    Fred    upon  his  landing,  and 


342  BLACK  ICE. 

if  I  can  avert  further  trouble  from  that  source, 
will  do  so.  Do  you  think  the  shock  is  likely  to 
prove  dangerous  ?" 

He  asked  the  question  with  an  evident  distress 
which  it  was  painful  to  behold. 

"  My  dear  fellow,"  I  said,  grasping  his  hand,  *'  if 
you  had  not  been  absorbed  in  self-accusation,  you 
might  have  spared  yourself  a  vast  amount  of 
suffering.  The  doctor's  prompt  treatment  pro- 
duced a  gentle  slumber,  and  she  has  been  in  a  quiet, 
half-unconscious  state  all  day.  Hester  roused  her 
on  my  return  from  the  meeting  to-night  to  tell  her 
the  good  news  of  how  the  townspeople  had  rallied 
to  her  cause.  The  tears  crept  through  her  closed 
lids,  but  she  smiled  peacefully,  and  in  an  instant 
was  asleep  again.  The  doctor  came  a  moment 
after,  and  having  heard  our  report  rubbed  his 
hands  gleefully,  and  declared  that  she  would  be 
better  to-morrow  than  she  had  been  in  many  a 
day  even  before  her  collapse." 

"  Thank  God  !"  said  the  young  man,  solemnly 
bowing  his  head  upon  his  arms,  while  his  sobs 
shook  the  desk. 

"  Come,  come,"  I  said  after  a  moment.  "This 
will  never  do.  The  best  thing  for  you  is  to — to — 
do  nothing." 


A   FOOL'S  PUNISHMENT.  343 

This  stammered  solecism  was  too  much  for 
George's  sense  of  humor  even  at  that  time.  I 
heard  liim  catch  his  breath  once  or  twice,  and  then, 
despite  all  his  efforts  at  restraint,  the  gay  healthy 
nature  asserted  itself,  and  laughter  succeeded 
tears.  A  sense  of  fun  is  a  great  relief  to  a  healthy 
nature,  and  a  man  who  knows  how  to  laugh  is 
insured  against  many  ills. 

*•  I  beg  your  pardon,  Reynolds,"  he  said  after  a 
moment.  "Your  fun  is  bad  enough,  but  your 
efforts  at  consolation  would  convulse  a  corpse." 

"  It  was  something  of  a  bull,"  I  answered,  glad 
to  take  advantage  of  this  change  of  mood.  "But 
have  a  cigar,  and  let  us  talk  sensibly  about  this 
matter." 

"No,"  said  he,  cheerfully,  "I  have  had  enough  of 
bungling,  and  must  go  and  think  how  best  to  hide 
my  sorrow.  There  is  one  thing  I  came  near  for- 
getting. Fred  sent  me  this  letter,  asking  me  to  de- 
liver it  into  his  wife's  hands.  I  thought  of  burning 
it,  but  am  afraid  I  might  deprive  her  of  knowledge, 
she  ought  to  have.  I  will  leave  it  with  you 
to  do  with  as  you  see  fit.  I  think  you  had  better 
read  it  before  giving  it  to  her.  Make  any  excuse 
you  can  for  my  absence  and  silence  at  this  time." 

"  Why    not    tell    her    the    truth — that    you    are 


344  BLACK  ICE. 

Fred's  brother;  that  you  accidentally  betrayed  her 
refuge,  and  are  greatly  troubled  in  consequence  ? 
This  will  give  a  reason  for  your  absence,  and 
make  your  future  avoidance  of  her  seem  natural." 

The  tears  glistened  in  his  eyes. 

*'  As  you  choose,"  he  replied. 

He  lit  a  cigar  hastily,  and  shaking  my  hand 
he  let  himself  out  of  the  sliding  window,  and 
went  off  into  the  darkness,  no  longer  ghostly  and 
morbid,  but  a  healthy-minded  man  with  an  honest 
purpose  in  life,  which  was  based  on  real  considera- 
tion for  another's  happiness.  I  had  no  fear  for  him. 
His  love  was  one  of  those  pure  passions  which 
ennoble  but  do  not  destroy.  The  trouble  might 
leave  a  cicatrix  upon  his  heart,  but  it  would  beat 
just  as  strongly  and  honestly  as  it  had  ever  donfe. 
He  would  not,  indeed,  forget  the  woman  he  had 
loved  so  long  in  silence,  but  the  wealth  of  affection 
which  he  treasured  up  for  her  would  some  time 
flow  forth  to  brighten  some  other  woman's  life. 

I  sat  a  moment  by  the  fire,  thinking  of  these 
things.  I  could  not  but  regard  the  events  of 
the  day  as  omens  of  good.  I  could  not  see  how 
the  tangled  skein  was  to  be  unraveled,  but  I  was 
sure  it  would  be.  My  heart  was  so  full  that  I 
found  myself  unable    to  work    longer.     So    I    hid 


A    FOOns   PUNISHMENT.  845 

away  the  letter  which  Fred  had  given  me,  in  my 
desk,  where  it  would  not  be  always  staring  in 
my  face  and  tempting  my  lawless  fingers.  Then 
I  stole  up  to  bed,  very  quietly,  as  I  thought,  only 
to  be  greeted,  as  I  opened  the  bedroom  door,  with 
the  warning  exclamation  : 

"Do  stop  whistling,  my  dear.     Remember  Mrs. 
Somers." 


CHAPTER   XVII. 


SOME    RAVELED    THREADS. 


'T^HE  doctor  proved  a  true  prophet.  Though 
he  would  not  allow  his  patient  to  leave  her 
room  the  next  day,  the  smiles  and  tears  that 
mingled  on  her  face  attested  an  April  gladness  in 
her  heart  as  she  thanked  us  for  our  friendship,  and 
promised  that  we  should  soon  know  all  there  was 
worth  knowing  about  her  life  from  her  own  lips. 
The  confidence  which  the  people  of  Gladesboro  had 
manifested  touched  her  very  deeply,  and  she  was, 
in  her  humility,  inclined  to  ascribe  to  us  a  much 
greater  part  of  the  credit  for  this  kindly  ovation 
than  we  were  entitled  to  claim. 

I  started  the  next  day  on  a  sudden  summons 
requiring  a  journey  half  across  the  continent, 
which  promised  to  compel  my  absence  until  the 
close  of  the  year,  leaving  Mrs.  Somers  an  inmate  of 
Cragholt,  and  forgetting  all  about  the  letter  hid- 
den away  in  my  desk.  I  stopped  in  the  city  on  my 
way  westward,  and  told   Twining,  over  a  hurried 


SOME   RAVELED    THREADS.  347 

luncheon,  all  that  had  happened  at  Gladesboro. 
Among  other  things  I  gave  him  one  of  the  letters 
Compton  had  sent  to  the  people  in  the  village, 
thinking  some  legal  steps  might  be  taken  to  pre- 
vent our  invalid  from  being  annoyed  in  such 
manner  in  the  future.  He  promised  to  give  the 
matter  his  attention,  and  to  inform  me  at  Christ- 
mas what  would  best  be  done. 

Then  I  was  whirled  away  to  a  bleak  mountain- 
side of  Montana,  on  which  one  of  the  ever-recur- 
ring new  problems  of  my  profession  was  waiting 
to  be  solved.  The  time  required  was  longer  than 
I  expected.  The  Christmas  festivities  were  over; 
and  the  Saturday  before  New  Year's,  which 
festival-day  came  on  Monday,  had  arrived  when 
I  reached  Cragholt  after  a  hurried  journey.  The 
trip  had  been  an  unusually  severe  one,  but  promised 
unusual  profit.  In  order  to  reach  home  before  the 
holidays  were  quite  over,  I  had  come  directly  from 
the  mine,  and  was  still  clad  in  the  rough  gar- 
ments of  the  camp,  when  Bertha  met  me  at  the 
train  and  threw  her  arms  about  my  neck,  only  to 
start  back  the  next  instant  and  exclaim  upon  my 
personal  appearance,  which  she  declared  would 
put  the  company  at  Cragholt  in  a  shiver.  Of 
course  I  inquired  who  the  company  were,  and 
learned  that  they  were  our  friends  of  Thanksgiv- 


34:8  BLACK  ICE. 

ing  Eve,  with  a  few  others  who  had  been  invited 
to  Cragholt  that  evening  by  special  request  of 
Mrs.  Somers.  Bertha  told  me  this  as  we  rode 
homeward  over  the  smooth,  hard  road  in  the 
bright  winter  moonlight,  adding,  of  her  own  no- 
tion, that  Mrs.  Somers  had  been  very  anxious  for 
my  return  for  more  than  a  week.  For  the  first 
time  since  I  had  placed  it  tliere,  the  letter  reposing 
in  my  desk  came  into  my  mind.  Somehow  it 
made  me  catch  my  breath  anxiously.  Had  my 
neglect  exposed  her  to  any  further  annoyance? 
Why  had  these  people  been  invited  to  meet  her? 
I  felt  sure  that  she  intended  to  tell  the  story  of 
her  life,  that  night.  This  seemed  the  more  prob- 
able as  Compton's  letter  had  named  January  first 
as  the  date  of  his  expected  arrival  in  New  York. 
I  asked  for  George  Hartzell,  and  was  told  that  he 
had  sent  his  regrets,  having  a  prior  engagement 
for  that  evening  in  the  city.  I  remembered  his 
promise.  Bertha  said  he  had  acted  very  strangely, 
not  having  been  at  Cragholt  since  my  departure. 
Then  I  knew  that  he  remembered  it  too.  The 
train  was  a  late  one,  but  I  had  telegraphed  the 
hour,  and  Hester  had  thouglit  it  best  not  to  dis- 
turb the  arrangements  already  perfected,  based 
on  my  expected  arrival  at  an  earlier  hour.  On 
reaching  home,  I  was  smuggled  into  the  library  by 


SOME  RAVELED   THREADS.  349 

Bertha,  who  was  anxious  that  none  of  the  guests 
should  see  her  father  in  his  disreputable  Western 
garb.  Hither  soon  came  Hester,  whose  greeting 
was  hardly  over  when  she  informed  me  that  Mrs. 
Somers  was  very  anxious  to  see  me  before  I  met 
any  of  the  assembled  company.  Without  waiting 
for  an  answer,  she  called  ''  Come  in,"  and  Mrs. 
Somers  entered,  looking  flushed  and  embarrassed, 
but  with  a  happier  light  in  her  eyes  than  I  had 
ever  seen  there  before.  She  came  and  stood  by 
Hester,  who  put  her  arm  about  her  protectingly, 
as  if  to  assure  the  frail  creature  that  the  sturdy 
savage  who  stood  before  them  was  entirely  harm- 
less. They  formed  a  pretty  picture,  as  they  stood 
there  in  the  firelight,  with  the  candles  burning  in 
the  brass  sconces  about  the  room,  which  were  only 
lighted  on  special  occasions — Hester  tall  and  calm, 
with  the  white  hair  resting  peacefully  on  her 
broad  brow,  and  the  other  slight  and  fair,  with  the 
light  golden-brown  coil  knotted  low  on  the  neck, 
and  the  soft  eyes  lifted  to  mine  in  timorous  ques- 
tioning. 

"Mr.  Reynolds,"  she  said,  ''you  know  my — that 
is,  Mr.  Compton — is  to  arrive  in  New  York  very 
soon." 

"That  is  what  he  wrote,"  I  answered  with  a  care- 
less nod. 


350  BLACK  ICE. 

"  Since  you  were  so  kind  as  to  make  yourselves 
my  friends  and  give  me  the  shelter  of  your  roof 
without  question,  I  think  I  ought  to  take  no  im- 
portant step  without  your  knowledge  and  con- 
sent." 

I  bowed  my  acknowledgment,  and  she  continued. 

*'  In  consideration  of  the  confidence  shown  in 
me,  and  the  possibility  that  there  may  be  a  revival 
of  unpleasant  rumors,  it  seems  to  me,  and  Mrs. 
Reynolds  is  of  the  same  opinion,  I  believe," — she 
pressed  Hester's  hand,  and  looked  up  into  her  face 
with  a  smile  which  Hester  answered  with  an  af- 
firmative nod, — "  that  I  ought  to  inform  my  friends 
of  the  facts  of  my  life  before  he  has  another 
chance  to  take  them  at  a  disadvantage." 

"That  would  certainly  be  my  opinion,"  I  re- 
plied. 

"It  had  been  my  purpose,"  she  continued,  "to 
have  first  confided  everything  to  you  and  Dr. 
Colton,  as  the  two  oldest  and  stanchest  friends  I 
have,  and  then  been  guided  by  your  advice.  Even 
now  it  does  not  seem  that  I  ought  to  put  you  on 
a  par  with  my  other  friends." 

"We  are  very  glad  to  be  counted  among 
your    friends    at    all,"    said    Hester,    warmly. 

"  If  there  were  time,"  continued  Mrs.  Somers, 
"I     would     like     to     inform     3'ou     of    the    main 


SOME  RAVELED   THREADS,  351 

facts  before  speaking  of  them  to  your  guests. 
Do    you    think — " 

"I  think,  Mrs.  Somers,"  I  interrupted,  "that 
whatever  seems  proper  to  you  will  be  entirely 
satisfactory  to  your  friends.  For  me,  if  it 
would  please  you  just  as  well,  I  would  much 
rather  you  placed  us  on  a  level  with  the  others, 
and  I  am  sure  the  doctor  would  be  of  my 
opinion    too." 

The  tears  rose  to  her  eyes  as  she  said  in 
tremulous    tones  : 

"  I   hope   you   will   not   regret   your   kindness." 

She  was  about  to  withdraw  when  I  remem- 
bered the  letter,  and  taking  it  from  my  desk  I  said: 

"  Before  I  left,  Mrs.  Somers,  a  letter  from 
Fred  Compton  addressed  to  you  was  placed  in 
my  hands,  to  be  delivered  whenever  I  saw  fit. 
As  its  contents  may  have  some  influence  upon 
the  course  you  propose  to  take,  I  now  deliver 
it    to    you." 

She  drew  back  proudly  as  I  held  it  toward 
her,  and  a  flash  of  lofty  scorn  took  the  place 
of    the    tender,    grateful    glow    upon    her   cheeks. 

"I  beg  your  pardon,  Mr.  Reynolds,"  she  said 
with  the  utmost  dignity  and  firmness.  "Nothing 
that  Mr.  Compton  can  ever  say  or  do  can  in  the 
least  affect  my  course  in  any  matter  whatever.'* 


352  BLACK  ICE. 

"But  what  shall  I  do  with  this?"  I  asked,  puz- 
zled by  her  refusal  to  receive  the  letter. 

''Just  what  you  choose,"  she  answered  care- 
lessly. 

''Shall  I  burn  it?"  I  asked,  holding  it  toward 
the    grate. 

"  Really,"  she  said  with  a  smile,  "  I  have  no 
interest    in    the    disposition    you    make    of    it." 

I  was  about  to  drop  it  on  the  glowing  em- 
bers, when  Hester  sprang  forward  and  caught 
my    hand. 

"Don't,"  she  exclaimed;  "some  one  ought  to 
read    it." 

"Very  well,"  answered  Mrs.  Somers.  "You 
can  read  it,  Mr.  Reynolds,  and  if,  after  hearing 
what  I  have  to  tell  our  friends,  you  think  it 
important  that  I  should  know  its  contents,  you 
can  inform  me  of  them.  For  myself,  I  never 
wish    to    see    his    handwriting    again." 

"All  right,"  I  said;  "I  will  keep  it  and  read 
it    as    a    postscript    to    your    narrative." 

"Do  so,"  she  said  earnestly;  "it  will  be  a 
confirmation  of  my  words  from  the  mouth  of 
an    enemy.     It    has    not    been    opened  ?" 

I  turned  it  over  and  showed  the  seal  un- 
broken. She  shuddered  as  she  recognized  the 
device — an    eyas    "waiting    on." 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

"a  poor,  weak  woman.'* 

TT  was  a  strange  story,  quietly  told,  that  we 
listened  to  in  tlie  parlor  an  hour  afterward, 
when  the  belated  dinner  had  been  discussed 
with  as  much  good-nature  as  the  restraint  of 
indefinite  anticipation  would  permit.  Two  or 
three  of  the  School  Board,  with  the  pastor  of 
the  church  to  whicli  the  teacher  belonged,  had 
been  added  to  our  company.  The  frozen  river 
had  more  attractions  for  the  young  people  than 
such  a  sober  gathering  of  solemn-faced  elders, 
and  they,  with  Bobbie,  had  gone  to  lengthen  out 
the  last  holiday  of  the  old  year  by  the  light 
of  the  moon.  Sitting  quietly  in  the  circle  of 
light  beneath  the  chandelier,  Mrs.  Somers  said  : 

"The  kindness  of  those  present,  as  well  as 
of  all  the  people  of  Gladesboro,  has  been  so 
great,  that  I  feel  it  due  to  them  that  I  should 
give  them  my  confidence.  There  is  little  in 
my  life  worthy  of  note,  but  what  there  is  I  pro- 
pose to  relate  to  this  company  without  comment 


354  BLACK  ICE. 

or  evasion.  Who  and  what  I  am,  and  the  circum- 
stances that  have  shaped  my  life,  all  of  you  are 
entitled  to  know;  and  when  you  have  heard,  you 
will  be  at  liberty  to  relate  much  or  little  of  it  to 
others,  as  you  may  see  fit.  I  put  no  restrictions 
upon  any  one. 

"  I  was  a  very  happy  child  ;  was  early  left 
an  orphan,  with  a  most  indulgent  guardian, 
and  was  known  to  be  entitled  to  a  large 
fortune  in  my  own  right.  I  was  carefully  nur- 
tured, well  educated,  and  indulged  in  all  things. 
This  was  my  history  until  my  eighteenth  year. 
I  was,  of  course,  praised,  flattered,  and  sought 
after,  not  only  for  my  fortune,  but  also,  I  be- 
lieve, for  myself.  My  guardian,  a  tender-hearted 
bachelor  uncle,  earned  my  lasting  gratitude  by 
making  me  his  companion  in  sport  and  travel. 
He  enabled  me  to  see  the  world  in  a  way 
which,  if  not  altogether  conventional,  was  thor- 
ouglily  healthful.  For  the  ills  that  followed  I 
can  blame  neither  him  nor  any  one  except  my- 
self. His  tastes  were  of  the  healthiest,  and  his 
life  one  of  charming  simplicity.  The  fortune  I 
had  received  from  my  father  was  the  twin  of 
his  own,  both  having  been  gained  in  a  busi- 
ness from  which  they  had  retired  during  my 
childhood.     My  father   had    married    late   in    life, 


"A   POOR,    WEAK  WOMAN."  355 

and  I  was  his  only  child;  and  as  my  mother 
died  at  my  birth,  these  two  old  men  became 
my  associates,  and  after  my  father's  death  the 
one  remained  a  'guide,  philosopher,  and  friend,' 
who  showed  me  the  world  through  his  own 
pure  yet  wise  eyes.  After  retiring  from  busi- 
ness he  had  resumed  the  studies  of  his  youth, 
and  when  I  can  first  remember  was  a  leading 
scientist  of  one  of  the  great  Western  States. 
The  remarkable  museum  which  now  forms  the 
chief  attraction  of  its  university  was  collected 
by  him. 

"The  education  I  received  was  both  more  and 
less  than  the  word  usually  implies.  I  knew  the 
fauna  and  flora,  the  present  products  and  past 
history,  of  the  West,  and  especially  of  my  native 
State,  almost  as  well  as  my  uncle  himself.  I  had 
assisted  him  in  obtaining,  classifying,  and  arrang- 
ing his  great  collection.  I  had  aided  him  in  the 
investment  and  care  of  our  united  fortunes,  and 
knew  more  of  business  than  most  women  ever 
learn.  I  had  become  acquainted  with  many 
bright,  intellectual  men,  who  sympathized  with 
my  uncle's  scientific  pursuits,  and  on  the  whole,  no 
doubt,  knew  more  of  the  world,  animate  and 
inanimate,  than  most  women  of  twice  my  age. 
Intellectually,    I    may   well   say   that    my   educa- 


356  BLACK  ICE. 

tion  waj  good.  Socially,  however,  I  was  as  in- 
nocent as  a  child.  The  society  in  which  we 
lived  was  of  the  best — unpretentious,  sincere, 
and  earnest.  My  uncle  would  laugh  sometimes 
about  fortune-hunters,  and  the  good  lady  who 
had  been  his  housekeeper  ever  since  my  re- 
membrance used  to  fret  about  my  unprotected 
state,  and  regret  that  there  was  not  some 
fashionable  relative  to  chaperon  her  favorite, 
and  initiate  me  into  the  ways  of  polite  society. 
*'It  was  at  this  time  that  I  met  Mr.  Compton. 
My  uncle  was  engaged  upon  the  great  work  of 
his  life,  the  preparation  of  his  report  of  the 
geological  survey  of  the  State,  and  required  as- 
sistance in  the  classification  and  arrangement  of 
the  results  of  the  field-work,  which  had  been 
done  under  his  direction  during  the  preceding 
three  years.  I  do  not  know  how  Mr.  Compton 
came  to  be  connected  with  the  survey.  Almost 
the  first  thing  I  knew  of  him  was  that,  on 
returning  from  school,  I  found  him  installed  in 
the  house  as  the  trusted  chief  assistant  of  my 
uncle.  Whence  he  came  or  who  he  was  I 
never  questioned.  My  uncle  esteemed  him  very 
highly  for  his  capacity  and  faithfulness,  and  so 
far  as  ability  is  concerned  he  was  very  worthy 
of    his    approval.      My    uncle's    health    was    fail- 


''A   POOR,    WEAK    WOMANr  357 

ing,  and  he  was  very  anx-ious  to  complete  his 
work. 

"I  was  a  most  welcome  addition  to  the 
meager  force  the  State  allowed  him,  as  years 
of  instruction  and  unrestrained  association  in 
his  work  made  me  familiar  with  its  details. 
So  we  wrought  together,  Mr.  Compton  and  I, 
for  a  year.  He  was  much  my  senior — about 
thirty  at  that  time — polished,  accomplished,  and, 
above  all,  devoted  to  my  uncle,  I  have  since 
had  reason  to  believe  that  before  this  time  he 
had  led  a  life  of  dissipation,  but  no  one  could  have 
been  more  exemplary  than  he  while  in  the  house 
of  my  uncle.  Professor  John  Somers." 

"What!"  I  exclaimed.  "Are  you  Professor 
Somers's  niece, — the  one  to  whom  he  dedicated 
his    'Report'?" 

"The  same,"  she  answered.  "Margaret  Som- 
ers.    You    know    his    work,    then  ?" 

"Know  it?  Every  man  who  claims  to  be  a 
scientist  is  bound  to  know  one  who  has  done 
so  much  and  such  excellent  work." 

"Thank  you,"  she  answered  simply  enough. 
**  It  was  for  such  commendation  that  he  labored. 
Though  the  credit  for  much  of  his  best  work 
has  been  appropriated  by  others — notably  the 
system  of  observations  on  which  our  meteorologi- 


358  BLACK  ICE. 

cal  reports  are  based — yet  he  would  have  been 
quite  content  to  know  that  scientific  men  spoke 
of  his  work  with  approval." 

Then    she    went    on    with    her   narrative. 

*'I  hardly  know  when  I  first  became  aware 
that  Mr.  Compton  regarded  me  as  something  more 
than  a  fellow-worker.  Of  course  the  thought  was 
flattering  to  my  vanity.  He  was  a  man  whom 
it  seemed  any  girl  might  be  proud  to  regard  as 
a  lover.  Aside  from  his  personal  appearance  and 
social  accomplishments,  his  intellectual  and  liter- 
ary attainments  were  by  no  means  despicable. 
You  were  wrong,  Mr.  Reynolds,  in  thinking  his 
acquirements  superficial.  He  was  at  that  time  a 
keen  and  accurate  student,  and  an  indefatigable 
worker.  If  his  moral  nature  had  been  on  a  par 
with  his  intellectual  development,  no  woman 
could  have  desired  a  worthier  husband.  In  a  few 
months  we  became  engaged.  The  prospect  of  our 
marriage  gave  great  pleasure  to  my*  uncle,  and 
I  am  sure  his  confidence  in  Mr.  Compton  did 
much  to  make  his  last  months  peaceful.  He  felt 
that  if  he  should  not  live  to  finish  his  great  work 
it  would  be  faithfully  completed  by  him.  He 
had  no  need  of  such  aid,  however,  as  he  lived  to 
write  *  Finis  '  at  the  end  of  the  last  chapter.  Then 
he  failed  rapidly.     We  started  for  the  South  with 


*A   POOR,    WEAK    woman:'  359 

him.     He  grew  worse,  and  died  a  few  days  after 
our  marriage. 

"  I  have  never  quite  understood  this  period 
of  my  life.  I  do  not  know  whether  I  loved 
the  man  I  had  taken  for  my  husband  or  not. 
I  certainly  admired  him  very  greatly;  had  no 
distrust  of  him,  and  looked  forward  to  a  very 
happy  life  in  his  society.  I  did  not  come 
very  close  to  him,  it  is  true.  There  was 
something  about  his  nature  that  kept  me  always 
at  a  distance.  We  lived  together,  but  our  lives 
were  separate.  At  the  end  of  a  year  we  were 
no  nearer  than  when  we  first  met,  so  far  as 
our  thoughts  and  feelings  were  concerned.  He 
expected  to  have  been  named  as  my  uncle's 
executor  and  residuary  legatee.  In  fact,  I  think 
he  supposed  himself  to  have  been  designated 
as  such  before  our  marriage  ;  but  when  we 
came  to  examine  my  uncle's  papers  we  found 
his  will,  executed  some  years  before,  unchanged. 
My  own  fortune  had  been  in  my  uncle's  hands 
up  to  my  marriage.  My  husband  took  charge 
of  it  then,  as  a  matter  of  course.  After  a  few 
months  we  went  abroad.  It  was  a  long  time 
before  I  learned  his  real  character.  I  am  not 
timid  by  nature,  but  terror  only  weakly  expresses 
the   feeling    I    came    to   have    for   him.     I  hardly 


360  BLACK  ICE. 

knew  what  I  feared,  and  there  was  hardly  any- 
thing I  did  not  fear.  His  sole  purpose  seemed 
to  be  to  get  control  of  my  estate  and  squander 
it  upon  his  vices.  I  think  that  my  life  would 
have  been  of  less  than  pin's  fee  to  him  but  for 
the  fact  that,  so  far  as  the  realty  was  concerned^ 
my  estate  was  made  inalienable,  by  my  father's 
will,  until  I  had  reached  a  certain  age,  except 
with  my  uncle's  consent  or  the  written  advice 
of  another  especial  friend.  While  I  lived,  my 
husband  would,  of  course,  enjoy  the  income 
from  this  property;  but  if  I  died  without  chil- 
dren, it  would  pass  into  other  hands.  The  man 
in  whom  my  father  had  reposed  tliis  trust  was 
of  a  peculiarly  cautious  nature.  He  had  always 
distrusted  my  husband's  motives,  and  no  in- 
fluence that  could  be  brought  to  bear  would 
induce  him  to  consent  to  a  sale.  My  frenzied 
requests  only  made  him  the  more  obdurate. 
He  was  a  conscientious  man,  however,  and  to 
relieve  himself  from  the  charge  of  prejudice 
he  began  an  investigation  of  my  husband's  past. 
It  was  from  the  hand  of  this  devoted  friend 
that  the  blow  came  which  made  all  that  I  had 
suffered  before  seem  tolerable  when  compared 
with    the  fate    in    store    for    me. 

"We   had   just   returned   from    abroad  when   a 


"A   POOR,     WEAK    WOMANr  361 

letter  came  from  him  announcing  the  terrible 
fact  that  /  was  not  even  a  wife!  The  man 
whom  I  supposed  to  be  my  husband  had  been 
previously  married;  there  had  been  a  legal 
separation,  authorizing  the  wife  to  live  apart 
from  her  husband,  and  compelling  him  to  con- 
tribute to  her  support,  but  not  releasing  him 
from  the  nuptial  obligation.  The  blow  fell 
upon  me  with  a  terrible  force.  Hitherto  I  had 
bewailed  the  fact  that  my  child,  when  born, 
would  be  compelled  to  bear  the  name  of  its 
father.  Now  I  thought  it  would  be  a  price- 
less blessing  if  it  might  only  enjoy  that  poor 
privilege." 

She  knit  her  hands  tightly  together  on  her 
lap;  the  blue  veins  stood  out  like  quivering 
cords  upon  her  brows;  her  cheeks  were  pale  as 
marble,  and  she  gazed  steadily  at  her  in- 
locked  hands  as  she  spoke.  The  silence  in  the 
room  was  painful.  The  tears  were  rolling  down 
Hester's  cheeks;  Mrs.  Colton  sobbed  softly,  and 
the  doctor  drew  down  his  brows  and  tossed 
back  his  black  mane  until  he  reminded  me  of 
nothing  so  much  as  a  scowling  old  lion,  who 
desired  to  rend  some  one  not  within  his  power. 
After   a   moment    she   went  on  : 

"  I    suppose   the   shock   of    this  disclosure    was 


362  BLACK  ICE. 

too  much  for  my  brain.  At  least  I  have  but  a 
confused  notion  of  what  happened  afterwards. 
When  I  recovered  my  reason  I  was  in  a  house 
on  the  outskirts  of  a  great  city,  watched  over 
by  a  woman  who  never  relaxed  the  vigilance 
of  her  espionage.  At  first  I  could  not  under- 
stand the  situation.  I  learned  finally  that  sev- 
eral months  had  elapsed  since  my  mental  im- 
pressions had  been  clear  and  consecutive. 
After  a  while  my  nurse  became  aware  that 
reason  had  returned.  Still  she  did  not  leave 
me;  and  though  her  vigilance  was  somewhat 
relaxed,  I  knew  that  I  was  still  kept  under 
supervision.  I  asked  about  my  child,  and  was 
informed  that  it  had  died  at  birth.  The  nurse 
offered  to  write  to  my  husband,  but  I  begged 
her  not  to  do  so.  She  would  not  allow  me 
to  write    to  other    friends. 

"  There  was  no  doubt  that  I  had  been  for  a 
time  insane;  it  was  not  quite  certain  that  I  was 
yet  restored.  I  was  allowed  full  liberty  in  the 
house.  Once  or  twice  a  week  I  was  driven  out, 
usually  in  a  closed  carriage.  To  these  arrange- 
ments I  did  not  offer  any  opposition.  Every- 
thing was  quiet  and  comfortable  about  the 
house,  and  I  felt  so  tired  that  I  did  not  care 
to   exert  myself  even   to    think.     Besides    that,  it 


"A   POOR,    WEAK    WOMANr  363 

seemed  a  refuge  from  the  terrible  facts  of  my 
life.  I  do  not  know  how  long  I  should  have 
remained  in  this  condition  had  I  not  been  in- 
formed by  the  nurse  one  day  that  my  husband 
was  coming  to  see  me  in  a  few  weeks.  My  hus- 
band !  the  term  itself  was  an  epitome  of  shame. 
I  determined  to  escape.  I  had  shown  so  little 
interest  in  anything  outside  my  place  of  re- 
fuge that  the  care  of  my  attendant  had  greatly 
relaxed,  and  I  was  allowed  pretty  much  my 
own  discretion.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the 
trained  nurse  who  was  employed  to  care  for 
me  regarded  her  task  as  very  nearly  at  an 
end.  She  naturally  supposed  that  the  return  of 
the  man  she  knew  as  my  husband  would  work 
a  permanent  cure  of  my  malady.  Escape  was, 
therefore,  easy.  There  was  a  small  sum  of 
money  in  a  purse  in  my  room,  and  my  jewels, 
strangely  enough,  had  not  been  sacrificed  by 
my  husband.  I  did  not  stop  to  consider  where 
I  would  go  or  what  I  would  do  after  making 
my  escape.  My  only  idea  was  to  get  away  and 
go  where  he  would  be  unable  to  find  me.  I 
was  sure  that  he  would  expect  me  to  go  to 
the  western  city  in  which  my  uncle  had  lived. 
To  confirm  this  idea  I  bought  a  ticket  thither, 
and  took   a   western   train,   turning    eastward   at 


364  BLACK  ICE. 

the  first  junction  witli  another  great  trunk  line. 
Everything  favored  my  movements.  After  a 
few  days  spent  in  an  eastern  city,  I  matured  my 
plans,  and  before  my  slender  fund  was  quite  ex- 
hausted I  was  buried  in  a  mountain  hamlet, 
under  the  name  of  Mrs.  Helen  Somers,  the 
village  school-teacher.  That  was  ten  years  ago. 
Nothing  worthy  of  note  has  happened  to  me 
since,  except  one  or  two  changes  of  location. 
I  was  the  more  ready  to  come  to  Gladesboro, 
because,  in  looking  out  of  the  window  of  my 
school-room,  I  saw,  or  thought  I  saw,  Mr.  Comp- 
ton  driving  by.  I  have  since  had  reason  to 
believe  that  it  might  have  been  another." 

She  raised  her  eyes  to  mine  as  she  uttered 
these  words.  I  wondered  if  she  was  thinking 
of   George    Hartzell. 

"There  have  been  numerous  advertisements 
designed  to  discover  my  whereabouts,  some  of 
them  no  doubt  inspired  by  Compton,  and 
others  by  parties  interested  in  my  estate.  The 
friend  who  discovered  my  husband's  perfidy 
died  soon  after  writing  the  letter  I  received. 
No  one  else  knew  of  the  real  state  of  my 
affairs,  and  my  supposed  husband  yet  receives 
the  revenues  of  my  property.  I  suppose  he 
has   squandered   all    that   was    convertible   of    it. 


"A   POOR,    WEAK   WOMANr  365 

I  have  never  made  any  specific  inquiry,  not 
choosing  to  subject  myself  to  torture  and  hu- 
miliation in  order  to  reclaim  my  own. 

"I  went  once  to  my  old  home — a  trembling, 
disguised  fugitive.  I  had  then  some  thought 
of  fighting  for  my  rights.  I  found  myself  so 
thoroughly  forgotten  that  it  seemed  better  to 
keep  on  with  the  new  life,  rather  than  strive  to 
take  up  the  old  one  again.  It  was  on  my  re- 
turn that  I  first  met  my  good  friend  Dr.  Col- 
ton.  His  good  opinion  brought  me  here,  where 
you  have  all  known  my  life.  I  have  never 
heard  of  Mr.  Compton  since  that  time,  except 
now  and  then  by  accident  his  name  has  been 
mentioned  in  my  presence,  until  I  received  one 
of  the  letters  sent  to  warn  the  people  of  Glades- 
boro  against  me.  I  do  not  know  his  motive  in 
doing  this,  and  prefer  not  to  speak  of  it 
further.  I  may  have  done  wrong  in  dropping 
his  name,  but  I  would  rather  be  branded  on 
the  cheek  than  wear  it.  Mr.  Reynolds  showed 
me  an  envelope  addressed  to  me  in  his  hand- 
writing this  evening.  I  refused  to  receive  or 
open  it,  as  I  have  determined  to  hold  no 
further  communication  with  him  under  any  cir- 
cumstances. If  Mr.  Reynolds  thinks  proper,  I 
would   be  glad   if  he  would  open  and  read  that 


366  BLACK  ICE. 

letter.  Knowing  how  I  am  situated,  he  can 
judge  whether  I  ought  to  be  made  aware  of 
its   contents   or   not." 

Every  eye  was  turned  on  me.  She  who  had 
been  speaking  was  by  far  the  most  composed 
of  the  whole  company.  I  took  out  the  letter 
somewhat  confusedly,  opened  it  and  read  with 
a  surprise  I  could  not  conceal  these  words  in 
the  precise,    even   hand   of   Mr.    Fred   Compton : 

"  Margaret  :  You  will  no  doubt  be  surprised 
to  learn  that  I  have  at  length  found  your 
hiding-place.  You  have  had  a  long  run,  but 
you  will  not  escape  me  again  so  easily.  I  did 
not  care  so  much  for  your  society,  but  was 
anxious  to  know  just  where  you  were.  You 
perhaps  expected  me  to  resign  my  marital 
rights  upon  the  crazy  charge  of  that  old  fool 
Jordan;  but  I  had  no  notion  of  letting  go  of  a 
good  thing  on  those  terms.  He  is  dead,  and 
his  silly  notion  perished  with  him.  I  am  your 
lawful  husband,  and  mean  to  maintain  my 
rights  as  such.  The  child  you  thought  was  dead 
I  kept  under  my  own  control,  knowing  very  well 
that  you  would  want  it  some  time  bad  enough 
to  comply  with  my  wishes  as  the  price  of  its 
possession.     You    are   now   able   to   convey   your 


'^  A   POOR,    WEAK    WOMAN."  367 

estate  without  restriction,  and  a  country  school- 
teacher really  has  no  use  for  all  the  property 
that  stands  in  your  name.  Some  of  it  would  be 
very  acceptable  to  me  at  this  time.  I  find  the 
income  by  no  means  unwelcome;  but,  as  you 
know,  I  have  always  wanted  to  handle  the  prin- 
cipal. Perhaps,  if  you  are  inclined  to  be  rea- 
sonable, an  arrangement  may  be  made  by  which 
you  will  not  be  entirely  the  loser,  and  I  greatly 
the  gainer.  I  speak  plainly,  as  I  take  it  there 
is  no  longer  any  need  for  sentiment  between 
us,  and  confident  that  you  will  be  willing  to 
pay  liberally  for  absence,  silence,  and  freedom. 
You  can  address  me  at  the  Everett  House, 
Union  Square,  New  York,  after  January  ist. 
"Your   partner  in   marital   bonds, 

"Fred  H.  Compton." 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

THE    END    OF    THE    CHASE. 

IV/TY  astonishment  was  only  equaled  by  my  in- 
dignation  at  the  perfidy  and  coolness  of  the 
man  who  held  this  woman's  heart  in  his  grasp. 
The  unmurmuring  heroism  of  her  life,  made  pa- 
tent by  her  simple  narrative,  had  smitten  all  our 
hearts  with  self-reproachfulness,  but  to  me  her 
wrongs  came  home  with  peculiar  force,  as  I  saw 
her  holding  one  of  Hester's  hands  in  both  her 
own,  as  if  in  mute  appeal  for  the  protection  of 
our  home  life  to  be  cast  about  her.  It  was  very 
strange  that  this  woman  alone  of  all  others  should 
have  found  the  way  to  Hester's  heart.  I  felt  very 
glad  this  was  the  fact,  and  pledged  to  her  in  that 
glance  all  the  support  a  brother's  strength  and 
a  man's  aggressive  courage  might  give.  I  felt  a 
burning  desire  to  see  her  wrongs  righted,  and  a 
determination  to  do  all  in  my  power  to  effect  that 
result.  My  agitation  must  have  shown  itself 
in  my  face.  Hester  grew  pale,  and  her  hand 
grasped  one  of  Margaret  Somers's  so  tightly 
that  I  could  see  the  tense  drawn  filaments  from 


THE  END   OF   THE   CHASE.  369 

where  I  sat.  She  evidently  feared  the  letter  con- 
tained something  that  might  constitute  an  insur- 
mountable barrier  to  their  friendship. 

She  who  was  most  interested  in  what  I  had  read 
sat  gazing  at  me  with  anxious,  but  unflinching 
look.  Seeing  that  I  remained  silent,  she  uttered 
the  one  word,  "Well?" 

In  my  confusion  I  looked  from  one  to  another  of 
the  group  of  friends,  only  to  find  every  eye  fixed 
inquiringly  upon  me. 

"  Does  it  contain  anything  I  ought  to  know  ?'* 
asked  the  teacher  quietly. 

"Yes,  indeed,"  I  answered;  "but^-" 

"Then  read  it  aloud.  Having  broken  my 
silence,  I  will  have  no  more  concealments. 

"  Gad  !"  said  the  doctor,  fiercely,  brushing  the 
tears  that  gathered  in  his  eyes. 

"  Perhaps  thee  had  better  read  it  thyself,  first," 
said  Mrs.  Colton,  suggestively. 

"  I  understand  what  you  mean,"  was  the  reply, 
"but  there  can  be  nothing  between  Fredericli 
Compton  and  myself  that  others  are  not  free 
to  know.  Besides  that,  I  have  determined  never 
to  speak  to  him  again,  nor  to  read  anything  he 
may  write." 

"You  are  entirely  right,  too — entirely  right!" 
burst   in   the  doctor.     "You  have   fled  from  him 


370  BLACK  ICE. 

long  enough.  It  is  now  time  to  begin  to  fight 
We  will  stand  by  you — every  one  of  us.  Isn't 
that  so  ?"  he  asked  defiantly,  glaring  from  one 
to  another  as  if  he  would  like  nothing  in  the 
world  so  well  as  to  be  contradicted.  There  was 
no  dissent.  On  the  contrary,  the  minister  said 
heartily  : 

"  I  quite  agree  with  you,  doctor,  and  only  regret 
that  we  did  not  sooner  win  the  confidence  be- 
stowed upon  us  to-night,  that  we  might  have 
helped,  if  only  with  our  sympathy,  to  bear  a  sis- 
ter's burdens." 

The  tears  came  into  Margaret  Somers's  eyes; 
but  she  bravely  turned  the  current  of  remark 
away  from  herself,  saying  to  me: 

"  Read  the  letter,  please." 

I  did  so,  with  misgiving.  Whatever  may  have 
been  her  feeling  for  Fred  Compton  in  the  past, 
one  needed  only  to  have  watched  her  face  during 
the  reading  of  that  letter  to  know  that  no  spark 
of  tenderness  for  the  man  she  once  called  her 
husband  remained  in  her  heart.  Only  calm,  im- 
passive scorn  showed  upon  her  face  till  mention 
was  made  of  her  child.  Then  she  leaned  quickly 
forward,  clasping  her  hands  convulsively,  while 
her  lips  trembled  and  her  face  became  deadly 
pale. 


THE  END   OF   THE   CHASE.  371 

"My  baby,  oh,  my  baby  !"  she  moaned,  as  I  fin- 
ished reading. 

"There,  there,  child  !"  said  the  doctor,  pushing 
his  chair  close  to  hers  and  taking  her  hands  sooth- 
ingly in  his  own.  "The  scoundrel  probably  lies 
about  that  too." 

"  Perhaps,"  spoke  up  Twining,  in  his  firm,  even 
tones — "  perhaps  I  can  shed  some  light  upon 
that  matter." 

Every  one  looked  at  him  in  surprise,  but  he  con- 
tinued quietly: 

"  You  know,  Reynolds,  I  had  a  premonition  that 
something  of  this  kind  would  occur,  when  I  was 
here  before.  After  we  met  in  New  York  I  put 
what  I  knew  of  Fred  Compton  together,  and  set 
detectives  on  his  track.  I  think  there  is  little  in 
his  life  that  I  have  not  learned.  I  am  not  only 
able  to  confirm  the  story  we  have  heard,  but  to 
add  some  facts  necessary  to  its  full  comprehen- 
sion. 

"I  found  it  easy  enough  to  trace  Compton's 
life  from  the  time  we  knew  him  until  his  sepa- 
ration from  his  first  wife.  At  that  time  they 
were  domiciled  in  one  of  those  States  which 
still  uphold  the  policy  of  partial  or  limited 
divorce.  Under  this  an  absolute  divorce  was 
granted  to  the  wife,  but  he  was  restrained   from 


372  BLACK  ICE. 

remarriage  during  her  life.  One  of  the  curious 
things  about  our  dual  system  of  government  is 
that  a  marriage  may  be  good  in  one  State  and  not 
valid  in  another.  Fred  Compton  no  doubt 
thought  that  he  was  committing  bigamy  when  the 
marriage-ceremony  between  him  and  Miss  Somers 
was  performed.  Perhaps  it  might  have  been  so 
held  in  the  State  where  the  decree  of  limited  di- 
vorce was  granted,  but  for  a  fact  at  that  time, 
at  least,  unknown  to  him.  This  is  probably  the 
reason  he  has  spent  so  much  of  his  time  abroad 
since  his  second  marriage,  and  the  fact  that  a 
criminal  action  is  now  barred  by  the  statute  of 
limitation  may  be  one  reason  of  his  present  bold- 
ness. However  that  may  be,  there  is  little  room 
for  doubt  that  his  marriage  was  legal,  and  that  he 
now  is,  as  he  asserts,  the  husband  of  Margaret 
Somers  Compton,  who  is  lawfully  entitled  to 
bear  his  name,  and  whose  daughter  was  his 
legitimate  offspring." 

A  flash  of  gratitude  passed  over  the  lady's 
face  at  these  words,  followed  quickly  by  a  shadow 
of  doubt  as  she  asked: 

"  But  the  other, — the  divorced  wife  ?" 
"As    I     said,"    answered    Twining,     "she     was 
granted   an   absolute    divorce,  and   Compton   was 
enjoined    from    remarriage    during    her   lifetime. 


THE  END   OF  THE  CHASE.  373 

It  was  probably  not  known  to  him  that  some 
months  previous  to  his  second  marriage  she  had 
remarried  in  another  State." 

"  That,  of  course,  annulled  the  decree,"  I  said.  , 
"  That  is  another  of  the  curious  anomalies  of  our 
law,"  answered  Twining.  "  It  has  more  than  once 
been  held  that  such  remarriage  does  not  release 
the  prohibited  party.  The  restraint  imposed  by 
the  decree  is  in  such  cases  regarded  as  a  sort  of 
punitive  continuance  of  the  marital  contract  as  to 
one,  though  it  is  annulled  as  to  the  other — a  pen- 
alty for  evil  deeds.  It  has,  however,  more  gener- 
ally been  held  that  a  remarriage  of  the  released 
party  releases  the  prohibited  one,  and  that  would 
seem  to  be  the  natural  effect  of  such  act.  In  this 
case,  the  subsequent  marriage  having  taken  place 
in  another  State,  in  which  the  decree  was  inopera- 
tive, even  without  the  fact  of  remarriage  of  the 
other  party,  it  would  no  doubt  be  held  valid  in 
that  State. 

"Another  curious  thing  has  come  to  my  knowl- 
edge, which,  of  course,  could  not  have  been  known 
'  to  Compton  at  that  time,  but  which  puts  the  legal- 
ity of  the  second  marriage  beyond  question.  The 
lady  who  had  been  his  wife— our  old  friend  Mary 
Jane  Matson,  by  the  way,  Reynolds— died  on  the 
very  day  of  his  marriage  to  Margaret  Somers.     I 


374  BLACK  ICE. 

presume  he  is  yet  ignorant  of  this  fact,  as  he  does 
not  mention  it  in  his  letter." 

"I  should  think  the  significance  of  this  fact 
would  depend  on  which  occurred  first,  the  death 
or  the  marriage,"  said  the  minister.  "In  that 
case  a  curious  question  of  hours  and  even  minutes 
might   arise." 

"Such  questions  do  sometimes  arise  in  one 
branch  of  the  law,"  said  Twining,  with  a  seri- 
ous smile,  "but  would  not  be  likely  to  affect 
a  case  of  this  sort.  The  law  does  not  favor 
the  division  of  days,  and  would  certainly  not  do 
so  in  order  to  establish  a  disability.  Even  ac- 
cording to  the  terms  of  the  order  in  the  pro- 
ceedings for  divorce,  he  was  legally  capable  of 
contracting  marriage  on  that  day.  The  mar- 
riage was  therefore  legal,  and  there  having 
been   no   divorce   it   still   subsists." 

"So  it  seems  I  am  his  wife,  after  all,"  said 
Margaret,    with   a   weary   smile. 

"I  think,"  said  Twining,  hesitantly,  "it  would 
not  be  a  difficult  task  to  secure  a  divorce." 

There  was  a  solemn  pause.  All  eyes  were 
fixed   on   Mrs.    Compton. 

"I  shall  never  make  the  attempt,"  she  said 
earnestly.  "He  is  my  husband,  and  I  am  too 
grateful  for  that  fact  to  seek   a  separation." 


THE  END   OF   THE   CHASE.  375 

"But  your  child,"  said  Hester,  whose  sterner 
nature  was  hardly  inclined  to  approve  her 
friend's   leniency. 

"Ah!  I  had  forgotten,"  she  exclaimed,  with  a 
little   gasp.     "  My   baby  !  my   baby  !" 

"  Perhaps,"  I  suggested,  "  some  arrangement 
might  be  made  by  which  he  would  consent  to 
surrender   it." 

"  No  doubt,  that  might  be  done,"  said  Twin- 
ing, "if  it  were  necessary.  But  the  strangest 
thing  connected  with  our  investigation  is  the 
fact  that  Compton  himself  has  lost  sight  of 
the   child." 

"Lost  her?"  exclaimed  the  bewildered  mother. 

"Yes,  he  has  no  trace  of  her,  unless  he  has 
discovered  it  since  going  abroad,  which  is  not 
likely.  The  woman  whom  he  employed  to 
nurse  the  child  became  very  much  attached  to 
her  charge,  and  got  the  notion  that  its  mother 
had  been  unfairly  dealt  with  by  Compton,  who 
in  conversation  with  her,  it  seems,  had  let  out 
the  fact  that  the  mother  thought  the  child  was 
dead.  She  knew  you  had  been  confined  in  an 
asylum,  and  with  great  skill  and  patience 
tracked  you  to  the  place  from  which  you  had 
escaped.  She  advertised,  giving  a  minute  de- 
scription of  your  person,  and  evidently  got  some 


376  BLACK  ICE. 

information  as  to  where  you  were,  since  she 
went  to  New  York  and  bought  a  ticket  to  the 
very  town  in  which  you  then  resided.  At  this 
point  our  investigation  ended,  as  I  took  it  for 
granted  that  you  knew  the  child's  whereabouts, 
and  I  had  no  wish  to  pry  into  your  affairs 
further   than   was    needful." 

"  But  I  never  knew  she  was  alive  !"  exclaimed 
the  poor  woman.  *'  I  thought  she  was  dead  !  If 
I  could  only  have  her  in  my  arms  once — just 
once  !" 

She  stretched  out  her  hands  with  a  pathetic 
yearning. 

*'  I  will  at  once  direct  the  inquiry  to  be  re- 
newed," said  Twining.  "It  will  be  no  easy 
task,  I  fear,  since  I  am  assured  that  the  agents 
whom  Compton  employed  were  unable  to  ad- 
vance a  step  beyond  this  point.  I  was  able 
to  procure  a  likeness  of  the  child  taken  just 
before  she  was  removed  by  the  nurse.  This 
woman,  I  should  remark,  was  a  very  religious 
person,  and  no  doubt  acted  from  a  strong  sense 
of  duty.  She  was  much  attached  to  the  child, 
and  very  careful  of  her  in  every  respect.  Unfor- 
tunately, she  is  not  a  woman  of  striking  ap- 
pearance, or  one  given  to  talking  of  her  own 
affairs.     It  was   only  by  accident   that   a    friend 


THE  END   OF    THE    CHASE.  377 

of  hers  was  found  from  whom  we  learned  the 
few  facts  I  have  related.  Even  she  v/ould  say- 
nothing  until  assured  that  v/e  did  not  represent 
in  any  way  the  father.  Compton's  agents  traced 
the  child  by  her  appearance,  which  was  very 
striking  because  of  her  unusual  beauty.  This 
likeness  was  taken  but  a  few  days  before  her 
disappearance.  The  photographer  saved  the  neg- 
ative because  of  its  remarkable  loveliness.  In- 
deed, Etta  Compton,  which  was  the  name  she 
bore,  was  well  remembered  in  the  whole  villag^e 
where  the  nurse  resided  because  of  her  beauty 
and  sweetness  of  disposition.  The  likeness  is 
said   to   be   an    unusually   good    one." 

He  crossed  the  room  as  he  spoke,  and  handed 
Mrs.  Compton  a  small  photograph.  She  caught 
it  with  a  frenzied  hand,  and,  scarcely  glancing 
at  it,  pressed  it  first  to  her  lips  and  then  to 
her  bosom,  exclaiming,  while  the  tears  poured 
down   her   cheeks: 

"  My  darling  !  My  baby  !  My  baby  !  Where 
are  you  ?     Come  to  me,  darling  !     Come,  come  !" 

Hester  clasped  the  stricken  woman  in  her 
arms  and  soothed  her  as  if  she  had  been 
a  child.  Her  sobs  gradually  died  away,  and 
she  lay  quietly  in  Hester's  embrace,  the  pic- 
ture clasped  tightly  to  her  breast.     All  at  once 


378  BLACK  ICE. 

she  burst  away  from  the  clasping  arms.     There 
was   a   new,   wild   light   in  her   eyes. 

'*My  darling,  my  daughter!  Let  me  go.  I 
must  find  her.  Oh,  I  should  know  her  any- 
where !     Let   me   see   her !" 

She  held  the  picture  up  in  the  strong  light 
of  the  chandelier,  and  gazed  intently  at  the 
features.  The  color  fled  from  her  face.  Her 
eyes  seemed  bursting  from  their  sockets !  She 
held  the  picture  at  arm's  length,  struck  her  fore- 
head with  her  open  palm,  and  with  a  shriek  fell 
back  unconscious  into  Hester's  arms.  Then  there 
was  a  scene  of  confusion.  By  the  doctor's  direc- 
tion she  was  taken  to  her  room.  A  powerful 
anodyne  soon  quieted  her  struggles,  and  the 
doctor  and  Hester  returned  to  the  parlor,  leav- 
ing Mrs.  Colton  with  the  unconscious  sufferer. 
It  was  a  gloomy  company  that  waited  to  hear 
their  report.  The  young  people  had  returned 
from  their  outing  on  the  river  with  glowing 
cheeks  and  sparkling  eyes,  and  stood  looking 
in  hushed  surprise  from  one  to  another,  evi- 
dently unable  to  comprehend  how  the  fact  that 
the  teacher  had  fainted  should  bring  such  a 
solemn  and  mysterious  hush  over  us  all.  They 
gathered  in  a  corner  and  spoke  in  whispers, 
except    Bobbie,    who    held    one    of    his    father's 


THE   END  OF   THE   CHASE.  379 

hands.  In  the  other  Jack  held  the  photograph, 
which  had  dropped  on  the  floor  in  the  confu- 
sion. 

"Let  me  see  that  picture,"  said  the  doctor, 
sharply,   as    soon    as    he    re-entered    the    room. 

Jack  handed  it  to  him  without  a  word.  The 
doctor  threw  back  his  long  black  locks,  put  on 
his  glasses,  and  holding  the  picture  up  to  the 
lamplight  gazed  fixedly  at  it,  while  we  all 
gathered  around  to  see.  It  was  a  pretty  pic- 
ture— a  sylph-like  figure  with  hair  rippling  to 
her  waist,  and  eyes  full  of  a  tender  light.  We 
had  only  time  to  note  these  things  when  the 
doctor  started  backj  thrusting  the  picture  out 
at  arm's  length,  and  shading  his  eyes  with  his 
other  hand,  while  he  exclaimed  in  a  voice  of 
horror: 

"My   God,    it    is    the   same — the   very    same!" 
"What  do  you  mean,  doctor?"  asked   Twining, 
nervously. 

"  When  did  you  say  you  lost  track  of  her  ?'* 
asked  the  doctor,  savagely,  paying  no  heed  to 
his  question. 

"  Some    four   years   ago — in    the    summer." 
"You    say    she   was    coming   up   the    river?" 
"The    nurse   bought    an    excursion-ticket    to   a 
town    some    fifty    miles   above    here." 


380  BLACK  ICE. 

*'Do    you    remember    the    exact    date?" 

"I    think    the    twenty-fourth    of   June." 

**And    tlie    name    of    the    boat?" 

"The    Osprey." 

"The  Osprey!  I  knew  it.  There  could  be 
but  one.  Poor  woman !  no  wonder  it  was  too 
much    for    her." 

"  Wliat    do    you    mean,    doctor?" 

"The  Osprey,"  he  answered  in  a  trembling 
voice,  "was  the  steamer  that  blew  up  at 
Dwight's    Landing    on    that    very    day  !" 

"And    this    picture?" 

"Is  that  of  the  child  who  sang  her  Sabbath- 
school    hymns    in    that    scene   of    terror." 

"  Slie  died,  then,"  said  the  minister,  in  a 
hushed    voice. 

"  In  her  mother's  arms,"  answered  the  doctor, 
reverently. 

"Thank  God!"  said  the  minister,  with  an  up- 
ward   glance. 

Thinking  of  the  unconscious  mother  in  the 
room  above,  we  all  responded   solemnly,  "Amen." 

Then  the  company  broke  up.  The  family  re- 
tired, and  the  lights  were  extinguished  at 
Cragholt  except  one  that  burned  dimly  in  Mrs. 
Compton's  room,  where  Hester  watched  with 
her    suffering    friend. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

A     MIDNIGHT     HORROR. 

T  DO  not  know  how  long  I  had  slept,  when  I 
awoke  to  find  Hester  standing  beside  the  bed, 
and  saying  anxiously: 

"  Percy  !  Percy  !" 

I  sat  up  half  stupefied  by  the  light  and  the  sud- 
den awakening,  conscious  only  that  something  was 
wrong  and  Hester  in  distress. 

"Percy,"  she  repeated,  "have  you  been  awake — 
have   you  heard — anything?" 

"Burglars?"  I  asked  under  my  breath. 

"Percy,  I  can't  find  Mrs.  Somers." 

"Mrs.  Somers,"  I  repeated  dully;  "can't  find 
her?" 

I  was  so  heavy  with  sleep  that  I  could  not  imag- 
ine who  Mrs. 'Somers  was,  wliy  she  could  not  be 
found,  or  why  my  wife  should  wish  to  find  her. 

Hester  went  on  without  noticing  my  stupidity: 

"  She  was  sleeping  quietly  when  I  went  up,  and 
as  it  was  the  doctor's  orders  that  she  should  sim- 
ply be  kept  quiet,  and  allowed  to  sleep  all  that  she 


382  BLACK  ICE. 

would,  I  turned  down  the  light,  lay  down  upon  the 
lounge,  and  went  off  into  a  doze,  expecting  to 
wake  whenever  she  might  require  attention.  I 
must  have  slept  very  soundly.  I  woke  at  length 
with  a  start  to  find  myself  in  darkness.  I  sprang 
up  at  once,  and  found  the  room  empty." 

"  She  probably  awoke,  and,  feeling  restless,  put 
out  the  light  and  went  down  to  the  sitting-room," 
I  said,  as  coolly  as  I  could.  *'  Have  you  looked 
there?" 

"Oh,  Percy  !"  Hester  exclaimed,  sinking  upon  a 
chair,  and  placing  the  night-lamp  she  carried  on 
the  stand.     I  cannot — I — I  dare  not  I" 

"Why,  what  are  you  afraid  of?"  I  inquired  re- 
proachfully, as  I  rose  and  began  to  dress. 

"  Oh,  I  don't  know — I  cantf'  she  exclaimed  ex- 
citedly, clasping  her  hands  over  her  eyes  as  if  to 
shut  out  some  terrible  siglit. 

I  shuddered  at  the  thought  suggested,  but 
responded  soothingly: 

"  You  are  nervous  and  excited,  my  dear.  Why 
should  you  think  any  harm  has  befallen  Mrs.  Som- 


ers 


-Q  r' 


"Percy,"  said  my  wife,  solemnly,  letting  her 
hand  fall  upon  her  lap,  and  turning  toward  me  a 
strangely  pallid  face,  "  her  bed  is  made  up  as  if 
she  had  not  slept  in  it  at  all." 


A   MIDNIGHT  HORROR.  383 

It  is  Strange  what  a  thrill  this  simple  announce- 
ment brought.  I  did  not  at  all  wonder  at  her 
words  as  she  continued: 

"I  cannot  tell  how  it  frightened  me.  I  hardly- 
dared  look  around  the  room,  but  just  ran  down  for 
you." 

I  knew  very  well  what  she  feared  to  see,  and  felt 
the  terror  inspired  by  the  simple  act  she  related. 
Thinking  of  it  now,  I  wonder  at  the  feeling  it  pro- 
duced. It  shows  how  swiftly  the  mind  acts  with- 
out any  conscious  exercise  of  the  reasoning 
powers.  Yet  undoubtedly  we  did  reason.  When 
Hester  saw  the  bed  nicely  smoothed  and  ar- 
ranged as  if  no  one  had  occupied  its  snowy 
depths,  she  knew  at  once  that  it  was  an  unnatural 
act  upon  the  part  of  the  patient  who  had  eluded 
her  care,  and  unconsciously  accepted  it  as  the 
indication  of  a  fixed  though  insane  purpose  not 
to  return.  Hence  the  nameless  fear  that  held  her 
back  from  making  search  for  the  invalid. 

I  took  the  lamp  and  started  for  the  parlor,  not 
doubtful  that  we  should  there  find  the  very  thing 
we  feared.  I  do  not  think  I  am  a  specially  timor- 
ous man,  but  will  confess  that  I  was  almost 
glad  when  Hester  shudderingly  said: 

"Don't  leave  me,  Percy!  I  can't  stay  here 
alone  !" 


384  BLACK  ICE. 

It  did  not  occur  to  me  till  afterward  that  there 
was  any  absurdity  about  the  remark.  I  think  I 
was  even  glad  to  feel  her  clinging  to  me  and  start- 
ing at  every  creaking  of  the  floor  as  we  crossed 
the  hall  into  the  parlor.  The  fire  w^as  burning 
brightly  in  the  grate,  and  the  room  was  warm  and 
— empty.  The  dining-room,  which  we  next  ex- 
amined, held  nothing  more  terrible  than  some 
weird  shadows,  and  we  began  to  smile  at  our  fears. 
Still  the  mystery  we  set  out  to  explore  had  not 
been  cleared  up,  and  we  passed  rapidly  from 
room  to  room,  growing  every  moment  more  con- 
fident and  cheerful  as  our  search  seemed  to  be- 
come more  hopeless.  Such  is  the  contradiction 
of  human  nature.  At  length  we  had  examined 
all  the  rooms,  and  stood  together  in  the  empty 
apartment  whose  occupant  had  so  mysteriously 
disappeared. 

"Can  it  be  that  she  has  left  the  house?"  I 
asked. 

"  Her  bonnet  and  wraps  are  in  the  closet  at  the 
head  of  the  couch  where  I  slept,"  answered  Hester. 
"  She  could  not  have  taken  them  without  waking 
me." 

I  opened  the  door,  and  Hester,  peering  in,  con- 
firmed her  statement  with  the  report  that  they 
were  still  there. 


A    MIDNIGHT  HORROR,  385 

I  sat  down  upon  a  chair  and  looked  about  the 
room  thoroughly  nonplused. 

"Oh,  Percy!"  exclaimed  Hester,  suddenly  clasp- 
ing her  hands  upon  her  breast  and  paling  with 
fear  which  for  a  time  had  been  half  forgotten. 
"  There  is  one  place  where  we  have  not  looked." 

"  The  garret?"  I  asked,  with  a  smile. 

*' No,"  said  she,  with  emphasis,  "  I  don't  believe 
any  one  could  find  the  way  there  even  if  the  house 
were  on  fire." 

The  matter  of  access  to  the  garret  had  been  one 
of  the  architectural  questions  on  which  we  had  dif- 
fered when  Cragholt  was  built. 

"No,"  she  repeated,  "  I  did  not  mean  the  garret, 
I  mean  the — the  cellar." 

I  started  to  my  feet.  Hester's  fear  flashed 
across  my  apprehension  with  the  force  of  cer- 
tainty. I  rushed  down  the  stairs  into  the  cellar, 
passed  all  around  the  furnace  Dr.  Colton  had  so 
vigorously  objurgated,  and  found — nothing.  Re- 
turning I  stepped  into  the  hall,  and  trying  the 
front  door  found  it  securely  locked. 

"Where  is  the  key?"  asked  Twining  from  the 
stairs. 

I  started  at  the  sound  of  his  voice,  and  asked 
confusedly: 

"  You  here  ?" 


386  BLACK'  ICE. 

A  glance  at  his  face  showed  it  to  be  calm  and 
fixed  as  I  had  seen  it  in  battle.  I  did  not  need  to 
ask  if  he  knew  the  object  of  our  search.  In  the 
moment's  pause  which  followed  his  appearance, 
Hester  came  and  stood  beside  him  in  the  inner 
door  of  the  vestibule.  She  glanced  at  the  lock  of 
the  outer  door  on  which  the  light  shone  clearly, 
and  exclaimed: 

"  Why,  the  key  is  on  the  outside  !" 

Sure  enough  the  brass  stock  of  the  key  just 
showed  through  the  plate  inside  the  door.  De- 
spite the  fact  which  this  discovery  proved  beyond 
a  doubt — that  our  guest  had  fled  and  locked  us 
into  our  own  house — Hester  and  I  each  drew  a 
long  sigh  of  relief.  What  we  had  most  feared,  at 
least,  had  not  occurred.  So  selfish  and  cruel  is 
humanity.  The  poor  woman  might  be  suffering 
we  knew  not  how  much  of  agony  in  the  freezing 
night  outside,  but  w^e  had  time  to  forget  our 
sympathy  in  self-gratulation  that  our  home  had 
been  spared  the  horror  we  had  feared.  I  think  we 
were  both  ashamed  of  this  almost  as  soon  as  it 
made  itself  felt.  I  dropped  my  eyes  in  confusion 
from  Hester's  face,  and  scrutinized  the  lock  once 
more. 

"  Where  can  she  have  gone  ?"  she  asked  anx- 
iously. 


A   MIDNIGHT  HORROR.  387 

*'  My  God!"  exclaimed  Twining.  "  It  is  a  terrible 
night  for  one  in  her  condition  to  be  out." 

I  looked  up  inquiringly.  It  was  a  chill,  keen 
midwinter  night,  with  the  light  of  the  full  moon 
lying  clear  and  cold  on  the  frozen  ground — a  sharp 
night,  but  by  no  means  a  trying  one. 

*'  I  mean  crazed  and  unclothed,"  said  Twining, 
answering  my  look. 

"  Unclothed  ?"  I  exclaimed. 

"Certainly.  Did  you  not  say  she  had  not  taken 
her  clothes  ?"  turning  to  Hester. 

''  Her  wraps,"  she  corrected.  "  I  did  not  think 
about  the  clothes.     I  will  see." 

She  ran  upstairs.  Twining  paced  back  and  forth 
along  the  narrow  hall,  more  excited  than  I  had  ever 
seen  him.  I  sat  upon  one  of  the  straight-backed 
chairs  and  tried  to  think.  After  a  moment  I  rose 
and  began  to  put  on  my  overcoat.  Twining 
paused  in  his  walk  and  looked  at  me  inquir- 
ingly. 

"We  must  find  her,"  I  said  impatiently. 

"  True,"  he  rejoined,  in  a  self-reproachful  tone,  as 
he  also  began  to  prepare  himself  to  go  out,  "but 
where  ?" 

"  I  don't  know,"  I  said.  "  I  will  go  and  help 
James  harness  the  horses." 

I    had  already    touched    a   knob    that   rang   an 


388  BLACK  ICE. 

electric  bell  in  the  groom's  room,  and  knew  I 
should  find  him  awake  and  dressed. 

Just  then  Hester  reappeared. 

*' She  has  taken  her  ordinary  clothes,  shoes  and 
overshoes,  but  no  hat  or  cloak,"  she  reported. 

"  No  hat  or  cloak,"  repeated  Twining,  "and  the 
door  locked  on  the  outside.  It  means  a  short 
journey — pursuit  delayed,  and  no  intention  of 
returning."  He  spoke  very  solemnly,  and  after  a 
pause  added,  half  interrogatively,  "  The  river?" 

"Ten  inches  of  ice,"  said  I,  as  I  drew  my  cap 
over  my  ears. 

"True,"  he  answered,  with  a  sigh  of  relief;  "  and 
the  icemen  have  not  yet  begun  their  work.  But 
where  then  ?" 

"I  don't  know,"  I  answered.  "  Think  it  up,  you 
and  Hester.  There  is  James  knocking  to  know 
why  he  is  called.  Get  everything  ready  that  is 
needed.     You  will  go  with  us,  Hester  ?" 

"  Of  course.     What  shall  we  take  ?" 

"  O,  everything,"  with  a  comprehensive  ges- 
ture.    "Whiskey,  clothing,  blankets — " 

"  O,  that  reminds  me,"  interrupted  Hester;  "I 
threw  back  the  bed-clothes,  and  found  that  a 
double  blanket  was  gone." 

"What  !"  exclaimed  Twining,  "  a  blanket  ?" 

"Yes;  one   of  my   big  white  double   blankets — 


A   MIDNIGHT  HORROR.  389 

you  know  them,  Percy,  those  heavy  Sonora 
wool — " 

"Hurry,  Percy!"  said  Twining,  pushing  me 
toward  the  door,  where  James  was  impatiently 
knocking.  "  Bring  the  horses  around,"  he  shouted 
to  the  servant.  "  We  shall  find  her,"  he  continued 
confidently.     "  She  has  gone  to  the  grave  !" 

"The  grave  !"  shrieked  Hester. 

"Yes,"  exclaimed  Twining,  excitedly.  "The 
child's  grave — her  baby's  grave  !" 

A  light  broke  in  upon  us  with  his  words.  They 
were  a  master-key  to  all  that  had  occurred.  After 
that  there  was  no  more  doubt.  I  went  out  to 
assist  James,  who  already  had  the  horses  half 
harnessed  in  obedience  to  Twining's  shouted  com- 
mand. Leaving  word  for  them  to  follow  me,  I 
ran  by  a  footpath  down  the  hill  to  Dr.  Colton's. 
The  old  man  was  at  the  door  in  an  incredibly  short 
time  after  I  rung  the  bell. 

"  It's  no  use,"  he  exclaimed  testily,  as  he  un- 
did the  fastenings.  "I  won't  go.  What  do  you 
mean  by  calling  up  a  man  of  my  age  at  this  time 
of  night  ?  Do  you  think  doctors  are  invulnerable 
and  immortal?  I  don't  care  who  it  is.  Don't  tell 
me  anything.  I  won't  go  out  at  night — not  a  step 
for  any  one.  Other  people  might  as  well  die  as  I. 
There     is    no    excuse.     Pve    long    ago    told    my 


390  BLACK  ICE. 

patients  not  to  send  for  me  at  night.  Go  to  Dr. 
Parsons.  He's  young  and  tough,  and  a  good 
physician  too.  I'll  come  in  the  morning  if  you 
want.  Where  is  it?  What?  Eh?  Is  that  you, 
Reynolds  ?  Come  in,  come  in.  Why  the  dickens 
didn't  you  say  so  ?  What's  the  matter  ?  Eh  ?  Gone  ? 
Let  me  have  the  harness  put  on  that  rascal 
Hannibal." 

He  stepped  to  the  back  of  the  house,  gave  some 
directions  to  his  man,  and  returned.  A  few  words 
explained  to  him  all  we  knew. 

"  No  doubt  you're  right,"  he  exclaimed.  "  At 
the  same  time  you  may  be  wrong.  It  won't  do  to 
rely  upon  a  single  hypothesis.  Physicians  are  the 
only  people  who  are  not  allowed  to  make  mistakes. 
Let  me  think." 

He  strode  once  or  twice  across  the  room,  his 
long  black  hair  tossing  about  his  head  like  the 
mane  of  an  angry  lion,  his  eyes  rolling  fearfully  in 
their  sockets,  and  his  lips  moving  as  if  talking  with 
inconceivable  rapidity.  Turning  suddenly  upon 
me,  he  exclaimed: 

"You  are  right,  sir,  you  are  right.  I  would 
wager  anything  on  it.  At  the  same  time,  as  mis- 
takes are  possible  we  must  cut  off  the  chances. 
A  doctor's  life  is  one  continual  practice  of  the 
abscissa  infinita,  at  best.     You  go  on.     Don't  spare 


A    MIDNIGHT  HORROR.  391 

the  horses,  and  keep  your  eyes  well  ahead  of 
you.  A  brain  that  is  a  little  out  of  the  normal 
is  a  very  subtle  thing.  She  evidently  fears  pur- 
suit, and  a  half-crazed  person  will  hide  where  a 
rabbit  would  not  deem  concealment  possible. 
Look  sharp  !  I  will  rouse  a  few  of  our  friends, 
have  them  make  search  on  the  river,  at  the  depots, 
and  across  the  river,  too,  and  follow  you  in  half 
an  hour.  Remember,  I  will  not  be  more  than 
thirty  minutes  behind  you!  If  you  find  her,  warmth 
is  the  first  thing.  Yes,  whiskey — anything  that 
is  hot,  no  matter  how  baleful  it  might  be  at 
any  other  time.  There  is  your  carriage.  Good- 
by." 

I  ran  down  the  steps,  drawing  on  my  gloves  as 
I  went,  and  sprang  into  the  seat  with  the  driver. 
Twining  and  Hester  sat  behind. 

"  I  knew  you  would  want  to  drive  yourself,"  said 
Hester,  with  the  pride  a  wife  always  has  in  her 
husband's  physical  prowess,  as  we  rattled  down 
the  street. 

"Certainly,"  I  answered,  as  I  buttoned  my  coat, 
only  pausing  with  something  of  the  horseman's 
instinct,  before  I  took  the  reins,  to  pull  out  my 
watch,  and,  by  the  light  of  the  full  moon,  note 
the  time.  It  was  forty-five  minutes  past  two. 
The  road  had  frozen  smooth  and  had  been  v/orn 


392  BLACK  ICE. 

still  smoother  by  a  week's  travel,  with  the  days 
warm  enough  to  soften  the  surface  but  not  melt 
the  track. 

"  We  will  make  it  inside  of  fifty  minutes  if 
nothing  happens,"  I  said,  as  I  took  the  reins  from 
James.  "•  Watch  every  bush  and  rock  and  shadow, 
lest  we  pass  her  on  the  way.  If  we  are  right  in 
our  guess,  we  ought  to  overtake  her  before  we 
get  there." 

I  twisted  the  reins  about  my  hands  and  brought 
the  spirited  horses  down  to  their  work.  It  is  at 
such  a  time  that  a  man  feels  proud  of  the  breed- 
ing of  his  team.  It  is  on  the  long  stretch  that 
blood  tells — blood  and  courage,  for  blood  almost 
always  presupposes  courage  in  man  or  beast. 
Accidents  excepted,  I  knew  I  could  tell  almost 
to  a  second  the  time  it  would  require  to  make 
the  ten  miles  that  lay  between  Gladesboro  and 
Dwight's  Landing.  It  was  a  sharp,  keen  air  ;  the 
moon  was  hardly  more  than  an  hour  above  the 
horizon,  and  already  the  shadow  of  the  western 
lulls  besran  to  stretch  across  the  surface  of  the 
frozen  river.  The  walls  and  trees  sparkled  in  the 
moonlight  with  the  hoar-frost  that  had  gathered 
on  them.  There  was  not  a  breath  of  wind,  and  the 
night  had  that  preternatural  stillness  which  only 
comes  with  winter  moonlight.     The  sound  of  the 


A    MIDNIGHT  HORROR.  393 

horses'  hoofs  echoed  with  rhythmic  clearness  from 
the  sharp  banks  upon  the  other  shore. 

The  road  was  pleasantly  undulating,  and  wound 
along  the  river's  course,  now  close  to  the  shore, 
now  leaving  the  bank  to  find  an  easier  grade. 
I  gave  my  attention  entirely  to  the  horses,  urging 
them  somewhat  along  the  more  favorable  stretches, 
and  holding  them  back  on  the  sharper  inclines.  A 
dozen  times  some  of  the  watchers  thought  they 
caught  sight  of  a  figure  crouching  behind  a 
wall  or  under  the  shadow  of  a  bush.  Once  we 
stopped  while  James  beat  up  a  hemlock  thicket 
on  the  hillside,  and  once  Twining  persisted  in 
looking  under  a  bridge  where  he  fancied  she 
whom  we  sought  might  be  in  hiding,  I  whipped 
my  numb  fingers  about  my  shoulders  at  such  times, 
and  the  steaming  chestnuts  sent  up  white  vaporous 
clouds  from  their  quivering  nostrils.  No  sooner 
was  the  searcher's  foot  upon  the  step,  than  we  were 
again  in  motion.  We  neither  saw  nor  heard  ^ny 
sign  of  life,  except  a  train  sweeping  up  the  river 
on  the  other  side,  until  I  was  steadying  the  horses 
down  the  hill  that  slopes  to  the  creek,  just  above 
the  Landing.  The  road  here  is  in  a  sharp  cut, 
lined  on  either  side  with  a  close  growth  of  hem- 
lock. The  hills  shut  off  the  moonlight,  and  for  the 
first  time,  almost,  since   starting  out  we  were   in  a 


394  BLACK  ICE. 

darkness  which  seemed  almost  unnatural  because 
of  the  contrast  with  the  moonlight  through  which 
we  had  driven.  It  was  no  doubt  all  the  more  im- 
pressive from  the  fact  that  in  another  moment,  as  , 
soon  as  we  turned  the  foot  of  the  hill  and  crossed 
the  bridge  over  the  creek,  we  should  be  in  sight  of 
the  cluster  of  graves  upon  the  hillside,  and  know 
whether  our  search  was  to  be  rewarded  with 
success  or  not.  My  heart  was  in  my  throat  as  I 
peered  forward  at  the  roadway  with  unnecessary 
care.  A  rustle  in  the  hemlocks  by  the  roadside 
startled  me  as  if  it  had  been  a  thing  of  terror.  I 
pulled  the  reins  and  stopped  the  surprised  horses 
at  the  very  steepest  part  of  the  declivity.  As  I  did 
so  a  shriek,  clear  and  shrill,  rang  out  of  the  un- 
seen space  beyond,  and  echoed  and  re-echoed 
across  the  river. 

^^My  God!"  I  exclaimed,  "that  is  a  cry  for 
help!" 

The  cry  was  repeated,  shriller,  clearer,  and  un- 
mistakably in  a  woman's  voice. 

Before  I  could  start  the  horses.  Twining  had 
leaped  to  the  ground,  and  his  answering  shout 
might  have  been  heard  a  mile  away. 

"Here  !"  he  cried,  and  dashing  down  the  sharp 
slope  I  heard  his  footsteps  on  the  bridge  before  I 
recovered    myself   enough   to   give  the    trembling 


A   MIDNIGHT  HORROR.  395 

Steeds  the  word.  It  came  at  last  in  a  shout  almost 
as  loud  as  Twining's.  I  think  James  and  Hester 
must  have  added  their  screams,  as,  without  regard 
to  what  might  be  in  the  way,  the  horses  leaped 
forward,  tearing  at  full  gallop  across  the  little 
bridge,  past  the  few  deserted  houses,  and  came 
to  a  dead  stop  just  below  the  little  cluster  of 
graves.  Half  way  to  the  top  of  the  hill  a  black 
figure  was  running  toward  the  moonlight  that 
shone  over  the  crest.  Hardly  twenty  steps  be- 
hind the  fugitive  was  Twining,  in  hot  pursuit.  I 
threw  the  reins  to  James  and  joined  in  the  race. 


CHAPTER   XXI. 


IN    THE    PALE    MOONLIGHT. 


A  S  I  Sprang  to  the  ground  I  saw  the  fore- 
most figure  silhouetted  against  the  moon- 
liglit  for  an  instant  as  he  scrambled  up  the 
bank  and  disappeared  over  the  crest.  Throw- 
ing aside  coat  and  wraps,  I  prepared  to  fol- 
low with  something  of  the  pleasure  which  the 
athlete  always  feels  in  an  opportunity  to  util- 
ize his  powers.  I  was  not  young,  but  my 
profession  had  made  miOuntain-climbing  a  neces- 
sity, and  the  rarefied  atmosphere  of  high  levels  is  a 
wonderful  developer  of  lung-capacity.  My  step 
might  not  be  quite  as  light,  but  I  thought  with 
complacency  that  I  was  hardly  a  less  formidable 
pursuer  than  when  I  raced  Fred  Compton  on  the 
ice  twenty  odd  years  before.  I  had  not  stopped 
to  question  who  it  was  that  fled,  or  why  Twin- 
ing pursued.  It  hardly  needed  an  act  of  ratio- 
cination to  determine  that  the  man  must  be  a 
malefactor.  The  place  and  time,  the  screams  that 
we  had  heard,  the  fact  that  Jack  Twining  was 
on  his  track,  were  enough,  and  more  than  enough, 


IN   THE  PALE  MOONLIGHT.  397 

to  Stir  my  blood  with  the  fever  of  pursuit.  It 
flashed  upon  my  mind  as  a  strange  coincidence 
that  this  deserted  hamlet  should  be  selected  by 
fate  as  the  scene  in  which  two  acts  of  a  sad 
drama  should  be  performed,  and  my  mind 
went  back  to  Compton  and  the  strange  links 
which  bound  his  malign  nature  to  this  bleak 
hillside — to  a  child's  grave  and  a  wife's  woe.  In- 
stinctively I  glanced  toward  the  spot  where  I 
knew  the  little  tombstone  stood.  I  am  not 
superstitious,  but  I  must  own  that  my  heart 
stood  still  with  terror  as  I  saw  a  white  figure 
rise  out  of  the  cold,  hard  earth  and  noiselessly 
flit  along  the  dark  hillside  in  the  direction  the 
two  men  had  taken.  At  the  same  moment  I 
saw  Twining  scrambling  over  the  crest,  and 
heard    his   angry   shout: 

"Halt,    villain  !" 

Then  I  saw  the  white  figure  swerve  from  its 
course  and  flee  with  redoubled  speed  along  the 
hill-side.  Directly  in  its  path  the  sloping  bank 
had  been  cut  away  by  the  current  till  a  sheer 
precipice  overhung  the  ice  forty  feet  below.  As 
I  thought  of  this,  suddenly  the  truth  burst 
upon  my  mind.  The  terror  I  had  felt  before 
gave  way  to  a  sickening,  overpowering  dread. 
The     figure     was     hardly     fifty    steps    from    the 


398  BLACK  ICE. 

precipice,  and  twice  that  number  from  where  I 
stood.  It  w^as  not  possible  to  intercept  it. 
Twining  was  nearer, — hardly  half  as  far  away 
from  the  brink,  indeed, — but  his  attention  was  di- 
rected the  other  way.  In  an  instant  I  knew  that 
he  would  disappear,  and  then — !  I  could  not 
move.  My  feet  seemed  rooted  to  the  frozen  earth. 
I  heard  the  horses  breathing  heavily  behind  me. 
The  bits  rattled  as  they  stretched  their  necks 
after  their  long,  hard  drive.  One  of  them 
shook  himself,  and  I  felt  the  quiver  of  his 
strong  muscles  as  I  stood  motionless  with  lids 
close   shut,    seeing   what   I    would    not  see  ! 

Suddenly  a  shriek  rang  out.  I  felt  my  flesh 
creep  with  chilly  fear  as  its  tones  swept  my 
nerves  like  a  hand  that  strikes  and  breaks  harp- 
strings  too  tensely  strained.  My  eyes  flew  open. 
The  white  figure  was  nearer  still  to  the  brink. 
Twining  still  stood  motionless  on  the  crest. 
The  shriek  was  echoing  along  the  hills  upon 
the    other   shore. 

"Helen  !  Percy  !  Twining  !  Help  !" 
One  after  the  other  the  words  burst  from 
Hester's  lips,  each  in  shriller  tones  than  the 
one  before.  I  saw  the  white  figure  stop  and 
turn  toward  us  as  if  listening.  On  the  instant 
tongue   and   feet   regained    their   power. 


IN   THE  PALE  MOONLIGHT.  399 

"Call    again,"    I    said;    ''keep    on    calling." 
I    shot   up    the  hillside    like   an    arrow   from    a 
tense-drawn    bow.     Yet    how  weak    the    muscles 
seemed    whose    strength   I   lately  vaunted   to   my- 
self !     Each  footstep  seemed  to  consume  an  age  ! 
The  earth  was  whirling  dizzily  beneath  me  ! 
''Helen!     Oh,   Helen  !     Jackj     Help  !  quick  !" 
Hester   filled    the    night   with    shrieks,    instinct- 
ively obeying   my  directions  which    she   probably 
did    not    hear.      The    white     figure    was     moving 
once    more    toward    the    cliff.     Twining    stood    as 
if   frozen    upon    the    moonlit    crest.     I    dared    not 
shout  lest  the  only  chance  of  overtaking  the  flee- 
ing wraith  should  be  lost.     Suddenly  I  heard    a 
sharp,  clear  cry: 
''Stand  still!" 

It  was  Twining's  voice,  keen,  penetrating,  com- 
manding. The  figure  stopped  as  if  turned  to 
stone.  Then  Twining  dropped  out  of  the  moon- 
light, and  I  felt  rather  than  saw  that  he  shot 
downward  along  the  steep  declivity.  I  was  still 
toiling  up  the  hillside  at  a  snail's  pace,  as  it 
seemed,  when  I  should  have  flown.  There  were 
yet  twenty  steps  between  us,  when  I  saw  the 
figure  glance  quickly  around,  and  with  a  start 
leap  forward  toward  the  chasm.  Now,  however, 
her   flight  was   deflected   downward  in  my  direc- 


400  BLACK  ICE. 

tion.  The  rush  of  Twining's  footsteps  had  awak- 
ened terror,  and  she  was  fleeing  from  them,  but 
still  toward  the  brink.  How  leaden  seemed  m}' 
limbs,  as  I  mustered  all  my  power  to  intercept 
her  flight  !  The  flying  figure  seemed  just  upon 
the  brink  of  the  precipice  when  I  stumbled  and 
fell  headlong  toward  it.  My  hand  touched  a 
woman's  clothing.  Instinctively  I  clutched  it 
and  drew  the  wearer  backward  from  the  edge 
of  the  chasm.  As  I  struggled  to  rise,  she  fell 
against  me  and  bore  me  to  my  knees.  Then 
there  came  a  sudden  shock,  and  I  felt  myself 
thrown  backward  down    the    sharp  hillside. 

I  knew  in  an  instant  what  had  happened.  I 
have  said  the  bank  was  steep.  One  who  has  ob- 
served how  an  imprisoned  river  cuts  its  way 
through  rocky  barriers  will  understand  my 
meaning.  Toward  the  summit  the  declivity 
was  almost  sheer ;  even  in  ascending  it,  one 
needed  to  pick  each  foothold  with  extreme 
care.  Lower  down  the  accumulation  of  debris 
was  piled  sharply  against  the  face  of  the  hill, 
making  an  easier  slope  ;  yet  it  was  everywhere 
so  sharp  as  to  demand  constant  attention  in 
going  up  or  down.  Where  the  current  turned 
to  the  westward,  it  had  cut  away  the  sloping 
mass  and   formed    an    abrupt,    overhanging  bank 


IN    THE  PALE  MOONLIGHT.  401 

above  the  frozen  eddy,  fifty  feet  below.  Twin- 
ing's  attempt  to  intercept  the  fugitive  had  re- 
sulted in  a  fall,  and,  striking  us  just  as  I  was 
staggering  to  my  feet,  had  rolled  us  down,  along 
the  edge.  I  knew  this  could  not  be  far  away  ; 
I  had  caught  the  lappel  of  his  coat  as  he 
brushed  past,  and  I  dared  not  loose  my  hold. 
So  I  lay  upon  my  back,  clinging  desperately  to 
both  my  companions  ;  wondering  what  I  should 
do,    and   how   far   away    the   brink    might   be. 

Presently  I  heard   Hester's  voice  : 

**  Percy  !    Percy!"    she  cried    in    alarm. 

"  Here  !"    I  answered. 

She  uttered  a  low  cry,  and  I  could  hear  her 
panting  with   exertion  as  she  climbed  toward  us. 

"  Where  are  you  ?"  she  called  in  astonishment. 
We   were  lying  almost  at  her  feet. 

"  Here  we  are — all  right,  my  dear,"  I  answered 
in    tones  as  reassuring  as  I  could    command. 

*'0h,  Percy!"  she  exclaimed.  "What  is  the 
matter?  Are  you  hurt?  Did  you  catch  her? 
Oh,  where  is  she  !  Why  don't  you  get  up  ?" 
She  took  hold  of  the  woman  and  tried  to  lift 
her    up.      She    had    fallen    half  upon    me. 

"Never  mind  her,"  I  said.  "Twining — here 
below  me — is   he  safe?" 

I  heard  her   move  a  little  nearer.     Then  there 


402  BLACK  ICE. 

came    a    half-suppressed    scream,    and     she     ex- 
claimed: 

"  Oh   no  !     Hold   on  !     Can   you  ?" 

Then  I  knew  that  he  hung  over  the  abyss, 
and  my  fingers  seemed  suddenly  to  grow  weak. 
But  Hester  came  to  my  aid,  and  together  we 
drew  him  up.  Then  she  lifted  my  burden  off 
me,   and   I    rose   to   my   feet. 

"What's    all    this?" 

It  was  the  doctor's  voice.  I  could  have  wept 
for  joy.  My  strength  suddenly  departed,  and  I 
sunk  down  again  as  weak  as  a  shorn  Samson, 
and  as  dumb  as  those  on  either  side.  The 
doctor  needed  no  answer  to  his  question.  Turn- 
ing the  light  of  a  lantern  which  he  caught  from 
Edgar's  hand  upon  the  white-robed  figure  which 
Hester  was  clasping  in  her  arms,  he  disclosed 
the  widely-distended  eyes  of  Mrs.  Somers.  He 
made  a  quick  threatening  gesture  toward  them 
with  his  hand.     She  winked  and  drew  quickly  back. 

"What  is  the  matter,  doctor?"  she  asked,  in  a 
voice  natural  enough,  but  expressing  no  little 
surprise. 

"Nothing  in  the  world,  ma'am,"  he  answered 
with  unhesitating  assurance.  "You  just  lie  *itill 
while  I  give  you  some  medicine,  and  then  go 
to  sleep." 


IN   THE  PALE  MOONLIGHT,  403 

He  had  his  case  out,  and  slipped  some 
white  pellets  into  her  mouth,  almost  before  he 
ceased  speaking.  She  looked  about  her  in  sur- 
prise for  a  moment,  then  obeyed  his  injunction 
and  fell  asleep  like  a  tired  child.  The  doctor 
drew  a  long  breath  as  she  closed  her  eyes,  and 
then  began  a  more  careful  examination.  Her 
face  was  dabbled  in  blood  which  flowed  from  a 
small  wound  in  the  region  of  the  temple.  She 
was  wrapped  in  a  thick  white  blanket,  one 
corner  of  which  she  had  pulled  over  her  head 
after  the  manner  of  a  hood.  She  had  drawn 
a  pair  of  fleece-soled  knitted  socks  over  her 
shoes,  and  so  was  literally  shod  in  wool,  which 
had  muffled  her  footsteps  on  the  hillside.  The 
doctor  glanced  at  the  wound  and  remarked  cheer- 
fully that  it  was  "a  most  fortunate  accident." 

Hester,  whose  nerves  had  been  disturbed  by 
the  sight  of  blood,  looked  up  in  surprise  at 
his   tone,    and   asked    reproachfully: 

"How  do  you  suppose  it  was  done?" 

"  Really,  I  haven't  the  least  idea,  madam," 
was  the  reply.  "It  is  one  of  Nature's  simplest 
forms  of  surgery.  When  the  brain  becomes  suf- 
fused with  blood,  dizziness  ensues — we  become 
top-heavy,  as  we  say  ; — the  feet  stumble  ;  there 
is   a   fall  ;    a   bit   of  jagged   stone   or   a   conven- 


404  ^  BLACK  ICE. 

ient  stub  does  the  rest.  Sometimes,  like  an  un- 
skillful surgeon,  she  makes  the  cut  too  wide  or 
too  deep,  and  death  results.  Again,  the  flesh 
is  only  bruised,  not  penetrated,  and  the  opera- 
tion fails  to  give  relief.  In  this  case  no  harm 
has  been  done,  and  we  have  reason  to  hope  for 
the   best   results." 

By  this  time  Twining  began  to  manifest  signs 
of  returning  consciousness.  Turning  to  him,  the 
doctor  asked  the  cause  of  the  syncope.  A  few 
words  told  him  of  Jack's  sudden  dash  from  the 
top  of  the  bank  to  the  place  where  he  lay.  He 
glanced  at  the  sharp  declivity,  shrugged  his 
shoulders,    and    said   laconically: 

*'Too  rough  a  road  for  fast  driving,  even  by 
daylight.     Lucky  his    neck    is    not   broken." 

He  was  continuing  his  scrutiny  of  Twining 
while  he  spoke.     Suddenly  he  paused  and  asked: 

"  How  happens  it  he  did  not  go  over  the 
cliff?" 

I  explained  the  circumstances  as  briefly  as  I 
could. 

"O,  I  see,"  said  the  doctor.  **You  stumbled 
in  your  attempt  to  perform  an  impossibility,  and 
this  brought  your  hand  against  the  clothing  of 
this  poor  dazed  creature  just  before  she  reached 
the   brink.     As   you    instinctively  drew  her   back 


IN   THE  PALE   MOONLIGHT.  405 

from  destruction,  Twining  shot  down  against 
her  as  if  discharged  from  a  catapult,  knocked 
her  over  upon  you  and  rolled  over  both,  an 
unconscious  mass,  toward  the  cliff.  This  shock 
disturbed — arrested,  perhaps  I  should  say — the 
abnormal  action  of  the  brain.  Up  to  that  time, 
she  had  been  half  asleep — somnambulistic  we  call 
it,  though  it  is  not  really  sleep,  but  rather  an 
abnormal  activity  of  brain  accompanied  by  dor- 
mancy of  certain  powers.  Sometimes,  if  not 
arrested,  it  becomes  a  permanent  condition.  A 
sudden  shock  is  Nature's  remedy.  So  an  acci- 
dent saved  her  from  death,  and  another  accident 
restored  her  to  life — or  to  sanity,  which  is  more 
than  life.  Such  things  are  "happening"  every 
day.  Some  call  them  the  result  of  chance.  Think 
of  two  such  chances  concurring  !  I  find  it  easier 
to  believe  there  is  a  God,— a  God  who  brought 
you  within  reach  of  her  by  what  you  deemed  a 
mishap,  and  overruled  Twining's  insane  attempt 
to  save  her  life  and  made  it  a  cure  for  her 
malady.  I  may  -be  a  fool,  but  such  things, 
which  seem  against  Nature,  are  to  m.e  conclusive 
evidence  of  One  that  uses  and  controls  Nature. 
Call  it  what  you  will.  I  love  to  call  it  God." 
The  old  man  was  deftly  exploring  Jack's  anat- 
omy  as   he    thus    spoke,    while    that    worthy  lay 


406  BLACK  ICE. 

limp  and  pale  within  the  circle  of  the  dim 
lantern-light,    breathing    sterterously. 

"Here  is  another  instance  of  tender  watch-care 
over  fools,"  the  doctor  continued.  "  Suppose 
this  fellow  had  not  been  stunned.  Of  course, 
I  don't  know  yet  how  badly  he  is  hurt.  I  do 
know  he  is  not  dead,  and  it  is  not  probable 
he  has  a  mortal  injury.  But  suppose  he  had 
not  been  unconscious:  lying  there  dazed  and  con- 
fused, he  would  have  been  sure  to  have  wriggled 
over  the  brink,  and  probably  have  taken  you 
with  him,  for  you  are  one  of  the  kind  who 
would  hang  on  till  the  last  gasp.  I  don't  blame 
you,  but  it  is  a  foolish  notion.  Anybody  can 
hang  on.  Wisdom  generally  consists  in  know- 
ing when  to  let  go.  Perseverance  is  well  enough, 
but  knowing  when  to  stop  is  better.  You  could 
hold  him  as  a  dead  weight,  but  a  little  instinc- 
tive motion  on  his  part  would  have  made  it 
impossible  for  you  to  have  maintained  your 
grip." 

"  But  suppose  Percy  had  not  been  here  at 
all?"  asked  Hester  sharpl}^,  evidently  thinking 
her   husband's   merits   were   being   ignored. 

"  Ah,  madam,  you  are  only  complicating  the 
problem,"  answered  the  doctor  with  a  shrug. 
"Who  but  a  mountain-climber  could   have  made 


IN    THE  PALE  MOONLIGHT.  407 

the  run  he  did?  How  many  would  have  clutched 
the  bit  of  flying  cloth,  and  how  many  would 
have  had  presence  of  mind  enough  to  catch 
one  sweeping  over  him  like  an  avalanche  and 
prevent  the  otherwise  inevitable  leap  into  that 
gulf  below?  Your  husband,  Mrs.  Reynolds,  is 
the  most  remarkable  part  of  that  bit  of  luck, 
which  is  too  remarkable  to  be  known  as  any- 
thing but  Providence,  which  we  have  witnessed 
to-night.  This  stupid  fellow  who  seems  deter- 
mined to  make  us  lug  him  down  the  hill  was 
very  fortunate  in  having  a  friend  both  ready 
enough  and  strong  enough  to  save  him  from 
his  own  folly.  Not  many  people  meet  such 
luck." 

"A  man  is  always  fortunate  in  having  a  friend," 
I  interposed,  to  prevent  his  monologue  from  be- 
coming  too   personal. 

"Yes,"  assented  the  busy  philosopher,  "if  the 
friend  has  a  good  grip,  a  cool  head,  and  can 
think  of  something  besides  himself.  Such  people 
make  good  friends,  and  that  is  generally  about 
all  they  are  good  for.  The  world  understands 
selfishness,  and  excuses  when  it  does  not  ap- 
plaud it ;  but  self-forgetfulness  it  distrusts,  if 
it  does  not  despise.  A  man  who  takes  the 
trouble   to    save    his    friends    from     falling   will 


408  BLACK  ICE. 

never  be  rich  or  famous  himself,  which  in  our 
day  is  equivalent  to  saying  that  he  will  always 
be  considered  a  failure.  The  man  who  would 
succeed  should  let  his  friends  go  to  the  devil 
their  own  way,  while  he  pursues  steadily  his 
own   advantage." 

We  all  laughed  at  the  pretended  cynicism  of 
the  tender-hearted  physician,  whose  life  had  been 
a   constant    denial    of   his    philosophy. 

^'  Confound  it!"  he  growled  as  he  rose,  and 
whipped  his  hands  about  his  shoulders,  "is  this 
fellow  going  to  keep  us  here  all  night  ?  I'm 
half  frozen  now.  There  don't  seem  to  be  any- 
thing the  matter — no  cuts  or  bruises.  There's 
been  a  shock,  of  course  ;  but  he's  too  strong 
a  man  to  stay  in  a  dead  faint  like  this  merely 
because  he  is  a  little  shaken  up.  I'm  half 
afraid — take  hold  of  him,  Reynolds,  and  help 
me    lift    him    up." 

As  the  doctor  seized  his  arm  to  lift  him  into 
a  sitting  posture.  Twining  uttered  a  groan,  and 
I  felt  a  tremor  of  pain  in  the  hand  I  had 
taken. 

"Hurts,  does  it?"  said  the  doctor,  gleefully. 
"Well,  that's  good  news.  Ease  him  down,  Rey- 
nolds ;  we're  on  the  right  track  now,  and  will 
soon    know   what's    the   matter." 


IN   THE  PALE  MOONLIGHT.  409 

He  ran  his  hand  quickly  along  the  arm  he 
held  to  the  shoulder ;  moved  it  this  way  and 
that,   eliciting    more    groans. 

"  Here  it  is  ;  only  a  dislocation — painful  no 
doubt,  but  not  serious.  We  had  better  reduce 
it    before    he    regains    consciousness." 

Twining  himself  soon  recovered  sufficiently  to 
interpose  a  half-unconscious  objection  to  this. 
A  draught  from  the  doctor's  flask  revived  him, 
and  he  then  insisted  on  the  operation  being 
performed  without  delay,  declaring,  with  a  man's 
scorn  of  physical  weakness,  that  he  would  not 
mind  it  at  all.  The  doctor  took  care,  however, 
to  fortify  him  with  another  dram,  while  we  made 
Hester  comfortable  where  she  sat  with  the  sleep- 
ing woman's  head  in  her  lap,  before  proceeding 
with  his  task. 

It  was  a  curious  scene  :  the  bright  winter  sky 
overhead  ;  the  shadow  the  western  hills  threw 
over  us  ;  the  frozen  ground  ;  the  echoing  chasm; 
the  little  circle  of  light  about  the  lantern  ;  Jack 
with  his  coat  off,  his  head  in  my  lap,  and  my 
arms  gripped  tightly  around  him  ;  the  old  doc- 
tor, his  overcoat  thrown  aside,  his  white  hands 
clasping  Twining's  arm,  and  his  shining  rubber 
shoe  pressed  against  my  arm  where  it  lay  across 
Jack's  breast.  -       ■ 


410  BLACK  ICE. 

"  Are   you   ready  ?" 

The  keen  eyes  glanced  from  side  to  side  over 
the   little   group. 

*'  Ready,"  answered    Twining. 

There  was  a  steady  pull ;  I  felt  the  foot  that 
rested  on  my  arm  thrust  steadily  forth  ;  Jack's 
arm  was  given  a  quick  turn  ;  there  was  a  sudden 
click,  and  the  bone  had  slipped  back  into  its 
socket.  After  allowing  Twining  a  moment's  faint- 
ness  we  bundled  his  coat  about  him,  putting  the 
disabled  arm  in  a  sling;  and  after  another  sip 
at  the  flask  he  scornfully  rejected  further  assist- 
ance, stoutly  asserting  his  ability  to  care  for  him- 
self. The  doctor  said  something  about  "Dutch 
courage,"  and  the  sneer  thus  skillfully  applied 
was  even  more  potent  than  the  stimulant  Jack 
had  imbibed.  He  got  upon  his  feet  at  once, 
and   looked   on  at  our  preparations  for  departure. 

The  doctor  again  felt  the  sleeping  woman's 
pulse  and  noted  her  respiration.  Pouring  some 
of  the  spirits  upon  a  handkerchief,  he  wiped 
away  the  blood,  and  applied  a  bit  of  plaster  to 
the  little  blue  wound  in  the  white  temple. 
Then  we  carried  her  down  the  hill — Edgar  and 
I,  Twining  following  with  Hester  upon  one 
side  and  the  doctor  on  the  other — and  put  her 
in   the   wagon,   with   her   head    resting   easily   in 


IN   THE  PALE  MOONLIGHT,  411 

Hester's  lap,  and  piled  wraps  around  them  both. 
Then  we  went  back  to  examine  the  scene  of  the 
night's  adventure.  On  approaching  the  grave 
we  found  that  some  one  had  dug  through  the 
frozen  ground  almost  down  to  the  little  coffin. 
There  was  a  spade  yet  sticking  in  the  bottom 
of  the  excavation,  while  a  package  lay  beside 
the  heap  of  earth  which  had  been  thrown  out. 
The  doctor  lowered  himself  into  the  grave,  and 
by  the  aid  of  the  lantern  made  a  careful  ex- 
amination. 

"New  tools  and  a  green  hand,"  he  said 
thoughtfully.  "I  can't  understand  it.  The  body 
has  long  since  disappeared.  There  were  no 
valuables  buried  with  the  child,  as  all  her  little 
trinkets  were  left  in  my  possession  with  the 
hope  of  some  time  identifying  her.  By  the  way, 
I  must  give  them  to  her  mother  now  that  she 
is  identified." 

The  doctor  set  his  lantern  upon  the  edge  of 
the  grave,  took  off  his  hat,  and  ran  his  white 
hand  through  his  hair  as  was  his  wont  when 
thoroughly  nonplused. 

"  Might  it  not  have  been  revenge — a  desire  to 
annoy  the  mother?"  I  suggested, 

"I  had  thought  of  that,"  said  the  doctor;  "but 
it  does  not  seem  a  sufficient  motive  for  stich  an 
act." 


412  BLACK  ICE. 

"Her   husband    is — "    I    began. 

"As  bad  a  man  as  you  please,  but  certainly 
not   a   fool,"    said    the    doctor,    quickly. 

"  Yet  it  is  his  work,"  said  Twining,  confi- 
dently, as  he  stood  looking  down  into  the  grave, 
his  overcoat  loosely  hanging  over  the  arm  in 
its   extemporized   sling. 

"You    recognized   him?"    I   asked. 

"  I  would  not  be  positive  in  my  identification. 
I  thought  it  was  he.  But  then  he  was  in  my 
mind,  and  I  was  expecting  to  find  him  when 
we  heard  the  screams.  I  came  in  sight  just  in 
time  to  see  a  white  figure  and  a  dark  one  stand- 
ing somewhere  near  this  spot.  The  white  one 
suddenly  sank  out  of  sight.  I  gave  a  shout. 
The  dark  one  started,  glanced  quickly  around, 
and  then  fled  up  the  hill.  I  followed  in  pur- 
suit. I  thought  I  recognized  the  figure,  and  be- 
lieved that  I  had  witnessed  the  murder  of  a 
wife   by   her   husband." 

"Hester  and  I  both  recognized  him  as  he 
climbed  over  the  crest  in  the  moonlight,"  I 
added  in   confirmation. 

"  But  why  should  he  be  here,  and  why  should 
he  have  opened  the  grave  ?"  still  queried  the 
doctor.  "  He  could  not  have  known  his  wife 
was   coming,   and   so   have   prepared   it    in   anti- 


IN   THE   PALE   MOONLIGHT.  413 

cipation  of  her  arrival.  She  must  have  come 
straight  and  swift  from  your  house  or  you 
would  have  overtaken  her  on  the  way.  Why 
should  he  be  here  ?  Why  do  we  find  the  grave 
open?" 

"  Perhaps  he  wished  to  identify  the  remains," 
suggested  Twining. 

"  For   what   purpose  ?"    queried   the   doctor. 

*'  I  do  not  know,  of  course,"  responded  Twin- 
ing, "but  there  is  some  sort  of  controversy 
pending  about  her  uncle's  will.  She  has  been 
unheard  of  for  so  long  a  time  that  the  legal 
presumption  of  death  has  arisen.  By  the  terms 
of  his  will,  if  she  died  without  having  been  the 
mother  of  living  children,  the  property  descended 
to  other  parties  at  once,  and  her  husband  would 
lose   all   interest   in   it." 

"  But  what  could  he  hope  to  find  here  ?" 
asked   the   doctor. 

"I  do  not  know,"  responded  Twining.  "Per- 
haps  that   was    not   what   he   sought." 

The  doctor  lifted  the  spade  toward  the  light 
and   examined    it   critically. 

"Hello!"   he   said,    "there   is    blood   on   it." 

"I  thought  he  struck  her,"  said  Twining,  ex- 
citedly. 


414  BLACK  ICE. 

**Not  with  this,"  was  the  reply.  "The  blood 
has  trickled  down  on  the  front  of  the  blade, 
and " — he  stooped  and  examined  the  excavation 
carefully — "yes,  it  has  run  down  upon  the  dirt, 
too,  quite  a  lot  of  it.  I  had  no  idea  she  had 
lost   so    much." 

"  Perhaps  she  fell  in  and  her  head  struck  the 
corner   of   the   spade,"  suggested   Edgar. 

"  Young  man,"  said  the  doctor,  rising  from 
his  stooping  posture  and  casting  an  approving 
glance  at  his  grandson,  "  you  deserve  com- 
mendation. That  is  an  hypothesis  worth  con- 
sidering. Yes,  that  sharp  corner,"  he  continued, 
"would  make  just  such  a  dull  contused  wound 
as  that  on  her  temple.  Edgar,  I  congratulate 
you  on  having  taken  the  first  step  in  solving 
a   difficult    problem." 

But  that  step  did  not  make  the  next  any 
easier.  After  another  careful  glance  about  the 
grave  the  doctor  reached  up  to  me  his  right 
hand,  and  with  the  spade  in  the  other  clam- 
bered out.  I  took  the  spade  from  him,  and 
began  to  shovel  the  hard  clods  back.  The 
others  tramped  them  down,  but  they  would  not 
lie  as  close  as  they  had  done,  and  the  ridge 
above  was  higher  than  the  professional  grave- 
digger  usually  leaves.     When  it  was  done  Edgar 


IN   THE  PALE  MOONLIGHT.  415 

remarked  upon  its  length,  and  the  doctor 
quickly  inquired  of  Jack  and  myself: 

"  Is  your  friend  Compton  one  who  would  be 
likely  to  entertain  suicidal  proclivities  ?" 

We  could  not  answer,  but  inquired  at  once  : 

''Why?" 

"  Because,  if  he  is,  I  should  be  half  inclined 
to  think  he  had  dug  this  grave  for  himself." 

We  turned  away  from  the  mound  with  a 
shudder,  taking  the  tools  with  us.  A  few  steps 
from  it  Twining  stumbled  over  some  dark  ob- 
ject. Edgar  picked  it  up  and  handed  it  to  his 
grandfather.  It  was  a  fur-lined  coat  of  elegant 
make  and  rich  material. 

"  Exactly  what  we  need  to  keep  you  warm 
during  the  drive  home,"  said  the  doctor,  throw- 
ing it  over  Twining's  shoulders.  Jack  shook  it 
off  angrily. 

"All  right,"  said  the  doctor.  "It's  just  the 
thing  I've  long  needed  to  keep  the  marrow 
warm  in  these  old  bones." 

He  drew  it  on  as  he  spoke, — and  wears  it  yet. 

The  late  winter  morning  was  just  lighting  up 
the  hills  across  the  river  as  we  reached  home. 
It  was  decided  that  the  less  said  about  what 
had    occurred,    the    better.      To    avoid    trouble- 


416  BLACK  ICE. 

some  inquiry,  therefore,  Twining  took  the  first 
train  to  the  city.  Mrs.  Somers — or  Mrs.  Compton, 
as  I  should  now  call  her,  though  the  name 
never  seems  familiar  to  my  ears — convalesced 
very  rapidly;  but  that  night  remained  a  blank 
— or  rather  a  fevered  and  indistinct  vision — to 
her  mind.  Dr.  Colton  says  her  case,  though  a 
curious  one,  is  hardly  rare  enough  to  term  re- 
markable.    This    is    his    explanation : 

"  A  brain  congested  by  excitement  and  weak- 
ened by  anxiety  assumed  the  somnambulistic 
state,  and  while  in  this  condition  was  relieved 
by  the  flow  of  blood  from  the  temple,  and  the 
somnambulistic  condition  was  soon  after  deter- 
mined by  a  severe  physical  shock.  Fortunately, 
exhaustion  and  the  prompt  administration  of 
anodynes  induced  slumber,  so  that  the  nervous 
system  received  no  serious  shock  on  the  return 
of  consciousness.  There  is  no  reason,  therefore, 
why  her  recovery  should  not  be  swift  and  per- 
manent." 

This  was  the  explanation  he  gave  me  of  her 
condition  the  next  day,  and  his  words  were  fully 
verified  by  the  result.  It  was  noticeable  after 
her  recovery,  however,  that  she  seemed  to  have 
lost  her  sturdy  self-reliance  and  strained  sense 
of    independence.     She    relinquished    her   position 


IN   THE  PALE  MOONLIGHT.  417 

in  the  school,  assumed  her  proper  name, — of 
which,  indeed,  she  strangely  enough  seemed 
rather  proud, — and  would  hardly  let  Hester  go 
out  of  her  sight.  So  she  continued  to  live  at 
Cragholt,  and  very  soon  became  an  accustomed, 
as  she  had  always  been  a  welcome,  presence 
among   us. 

A  few  days  after  these  events  a  letter  from 
George  Hartzell  informed  us  of  his  brother's 
death.  ''  He  had  been  to  the  country,"  he  wrote, 
"to  visit  a  friend,  and  on  his  return,  leaping 
from  the  train  while  the  cars  were  yet  in  motion, 
to  catch  a  cross-town  car,  slipped,  and  was 
crushed  beneath  the  wheels.  Little  as  I  love 
him,"  he  added,  "I  cannot  but  feel  very  keenly 
his   melancholy    fate." 

The  train  from  which  he  alighted  at  the  time 
of  the  accident  had  passed  the  station  a  mile 
back  of  Dwight's  Landing  about  four  o'clock 
on  the  morning  of  our  drive  thither.  When  I 
showed  the  letter  to  the  doctor,  he  put  his 
hand  in  an  inside  pocket  of  the  fur-lined  coat, 
and  drew  forth  a  loaded  double-barreled  der- 
ringer, and  holding  it  before  me  asked,  with 
peculiar  emphasis: 
''  Was  it  accident?" 
The    question    has    not    been    answered.     Mrs. 


418  BLACK  ICE. 

Compton  was  told  of  her  widowhood  a  few 
days  afterward.  She  said  nothing  at  the  time, 
but  in  a  day  or  two  informed  Hester  that,  as 
her  husband  had  not  been  an  estimable  presence 
in  her  life,  she  did  not  feel  it  to  be  her  duty 
to  assume  a  mourning  garb  because  of  his 
death.  Yet  I  thought  her  dress  became  in- 
stinctively somewhat  more  severe,  though  her 
demeanor  was  brighter  and  happier  as  the 
memory  of  her  wrongs  and  sorrows  grew  more 
dim  with  each  recurring  day.  She  devoted 
herself  to  Bobbie,  and  seemed  happiest  when 
ministering  to  his  wants.  The  brown-haired  boy 
appeared  to  have  taken  the  place  in  her  heart 
which  the  golden-haired  girl  would  have  held 
had   she   lived.     Of  her  the  mother  never  spoke. 


CHAPTER   XXII. 

TOLD    BY    TO-MORROW. 

A  FORTNIGHT  after  the  incidents  I  have 
related,  I  left  home  to  put  in  operation  a 
great  mining  venture  in  the  heart  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  The  following  letter,  which  found 
me  three  months  afterward  busy,  grimy,  and  con- 
tented, save  for  occasional  attacks  of  homesick- 
ness, amid  the  crackling,  roaring  jets  of  a  great 
hydraulic  gulch,  tells  all  that  yet  remains  to  be 
told  of  our  Thanksgiving  at  Cragholt  and  what 
came  of  it.  I  sat  upon  a  pipe  that  throbbed 
with  the  angry  force  of  an  imprisoned  river, 
and  read  the  crossed  and  crowded  pages,  while 
half  a  hundred  yards  away  a  mountain  was 
crumbling  before  its  furious  impingement,  and 
the  clamor  of  its  liberated  waters  shut  out  all 
other  sounds,  save  now  and  then  the  roar  of  ar- 
tificial landslides  laden  with  golden  particles 
which  the  floods  had  hidden  ages  ago,  but  not 
so  securely  that  modern  science  cannot  find  them 
and  compel  the  waters  to  unloose  them  again. 
Great   yellow  drops   fell   on   the   pages  here  and 


420  BLACK  ICE. 

there  as  I  read,   for    I   could  not    wait   till   even- 
ing  for   the    news   from    home.     This    is    what   I 

read: 

"  Cragholt,  March  5th,  18 — . 

"My  dear  Papa:  We  are  all  well  except  Bob- 
bie, who  met  with  an  accident  yesterday.  It 
was  Saturday,  you  know,  and  very  cold.  March 
came  in  like  a  lion,  and  had  been  roaring  up 
the  river  ever  since,  so  that,  late  as  it  is,  just 
the  nicest  smooth  black  ice  you  ever  saw  had 
made  all  over  the  river.  Edgar  was  up  the 
night  before.  In  fact,  he  climbs  the  hill  almost 
every  night  now.  He  and  Allie  are  studying 
something  together,  or  pretend  to  be.  I  have 
almost  forgotten  what  it  is,  but  Maudie  and  I 
have  real  good  times  laughing  at  them.  Only 
a  few  days  ago  I  learned  the  words  of  "Jeannie 
Morrison,"  the  poem  I  have  always  been  so  fond 
of  hearing  you  recite,  just  for  the  fun  of  re- 
peating  to   them    the    lines: 

"  '  We  sat  thegither  on  one  seat, 
Wi'  ane  buik  on  our  knee; 
Thy  lips  were  on  thy  lesson, 
But  my  lesson  was  in  thee.' 

"Well,  I  don't  blame  them,  for  Edgar  is  just 
as  nice  as  he  can  be.  If  ever  I  do  have  a  lover, 
I    hope   he  will  be  like  him.     And  as  for  Cousin 


TOLD  BY   TO-MORROW.  421 

Allie,  she  is  as  sweet  as  a  little  rosebud,  though 
I  think  I  like  Maudie  best,  after  all.  I  am  so 
glad  you  brought  them  to  live  with  us,  Papa — 
though,  come  to  think,  that  was  Mamma's  idea, 
wasn't  it?  That  is,  she  asked  them,  you  know; 
though  I  am  afraid  she  would  never  have  thought 
of  doing  so  if  you  had  not  come  home  with 
your  head  full  of  stories  about  them  every  time 
you    went  West. 

*'  By  the  way,  mayn't  I  go  with  them  when 
they  return  home  to  Nebraska?  You  can  pick 
me  up  on  your  way  East,  you  know,  and  I  do 
so  want  to  hunt  jack-rabbits.  Allie  says  it  is 
just  splendid  sport,  and  I  think  it  must  be  very 
exciting  to  feel  a  horse  bounding  at  its  utmost 
speed  over  the  prairie,  see  the  greyhounds  fly- 
ing so  fast  they  only  seem  a  streak  of  light, 
and  then  a  sudden  turn,  the  baffled  hounds 
stretching  up  their  long  necks,  standing  on  their 
hind  legs,  hunting  everywhere  for  the  quarry, 
and  the  group  of  horsemen  scattered,  shouting, 
laughing, — everything  life,  eagerness,  good-nature. 
O,  it  must  be  rare!  Maudie  says  it's  'just 
horrid,'  but  she  isn't  a  tomboy,  you  know. 
Please,  Papa,  say  I  may  go,  and  be  sure  and 
write  it  to  me.  Mamma  might  forget  to  tell  me 
about  it,  you    know. 


422  BLACK  ICE. 

"  O,  I  was  going  to  write  you  about  Bobbie. 
We  all  went  down  to  the  ice  yesterday  for  the 
last  skate  of  the  season,  even  including  mamma, 
who  does  skate  beautifully.  You  just  ought  to 
have  seen  how  sweet  she  did  look,  Papa,  moving 
about  so  easily  and  gracefully,  with  her  furs 
and  gray  hair  and  the  sunshine  lighting  up  her 
face,  while  we  young  folks  skated  about  her, 
each  one  anxious  to  get  nearer  than  the  rest, 
all  except  Edgar,  who  had  Bobbie  in  hand  and 
was  teaching  him  to  skate  by  towing  him  along 
with  a  rope.  Mrs.  Compton — whom  we  still  call 
by  her  old  name  oftener  than  by  her  new  one 
— smiled  placidly  on  us  all,  for  we  took  her 
along  on  a  sliding  chair  made  on  purpose  for 
the  occasion.  Edgar  had  fixed  a  pair  of  run- 
ners on  one  of  your  great  deep  rockers  (he 
says  it  won't  take  a  minute  to  restore  it  to  its 
former  shape),  and  we  wrapped  her  up  with 
robes  and  bright  afghans  until  she  looked  like 
a  sweet  tender  princess  watching  her  subjects* 
sport — Mamma  serving  in  the  picture  as  a  dow- 
ager queen,  you  know.  She  insisted  on  push- 
ing Mrs.  Somers's  chair  almost  all  the  time  her- 
self. I  think  she  was  a  little  afraid  the  excite- 
ment might  be  too  much  for  the  pretty  invalid; 
for  though  she  has  seemed  quite  well  since  you 


TOLD   BY    TO-MORROW.  423 

left,  she  has  been  so  gentle  and  subdued  that 
she  doesn't  seem  like  the  Mrs.  Somers  you  knew 
at  all.  I  don't  believe  she  could  read  Queen 
Katharine  worth  a  cent  now.  Mamma  keeps 
watching  her  very  curiously,  as  if  she  was 
afraid  she  might  be  bad  again.  I  don't  think 
she  quite  wanted  her  to  go  out  on  the  ice 
with  us,  but  we  all  teased;  and  when  Mrs.  Som- 
ers herself  said  she'd  like  to  go,  Mamma  made 
no  further  opposition. 

'*  It  was  funny  to  see  how  anxious  Mamma 
was  about  the  ice,  though.  She  wouldn't  con- 
sent for  us  to  go  out  on  Friday  at  all,  de- 
claring that  there  was  'just  no  use  of  talking,' 
nobody  could  make  her  believe  that  *  black  ice  ' 
was  safe.  I  think  it  was  only  fear  of  the  ice 
and  anxiety  for  Mrs.  Somers  that  brought  her 
out   at   all. 

"  Well,  we  had  a  nice  time  for  an  hour  or  so, 
and  then  Mamma  thought  Mrs.  Somers  was 
looking  tired,  and  they  concluded  to  return.  The 
carriage  was  waiting  for  them  at  the  landing,  and 
Mamma,  having  cautioned  us  to  be  sure  to  be 
home  in  time  for  dinner,  started  back  with  her 
charge.  Then  we  all  joined  hands  and  skated 
up  stream  until  we  met  Mr.  Hartzell  coming 
down.      How    perfectly    splendid     he    did     look, 


424  BLACK  ICE. 

standing  as  straight  as  an  arrow,  first  on  one 
foot  and  then  on  the  other,  as  lazily  and  easily 
as  if  the  ice  moved  under  him  instead  of  any 
exertion  being  required  on  his  part  to  glide 
over  it!  When  he  came  opposite  to  us  he  took 
off  his  cap,  v^^aved  it  over  his  head,  and  asked 
if  we  felt  inclined  for  a  race.  So  Maudie  and 
T  turned  back  and  started  to  catch  him,  leaving 
Allie  and  Edgar  with  Bobbie  in  tow,  to  go  their 
own  way.  I  never  saw  anybody  in  such  splendid 
spirits  as  Mr.  Hartzell  was.  He  just  flew  over 
the  ice,  glancing  round  and  round,  ringing  us 
poor  girls  as  if  we  had  just  been  a  couple  of 
stumps,  but  going  all  the  time  toward  Mamma 
and  Mrs.  Somers,  who  were  on  the  way  to  the 
landing.  Long  before  they  reached  the  shore 
we  had  overtaken  them,  and  nothing  would 
do  but  Mr.  Hartzell  must  take  the  chair  and 
show  the  invalid  what  a  ride  on  the  river  was 
like,  as  he  said.  Mamma  protested,  and  seemed 
anxious  to  get  Mrs.  Somers  to  go  home;  but 
she  said  she  was  not  at  all  tired,  and  if  Mamma 
did  not  seriously  object  she  would  be  glad  to 
have  Mr.  Hartzell  do  as  he  proposed.  Mamma 
looked  hurt,  and  said  coolly  enough  that  of 
course  Mrs.  Compton  could  do  as  she  chose. 
She    didn't    wish    to    remain    longer     on    the    ice 


TOLD   BY    TO-MORROW.  425 

herself,  but  would  send  the  carriage  down  to 
the  landing  again  as  soon  as  she  reached  home. 
So  Maudie  and  I  went  on  ashore  with  Mamma, 
and  Mr.  Hartzell  and  Mrs.  Somers  started  up 
the  river.  Mamma  didn't  say  a  word  all  the  way 
to  the  landing,  but  she  looked  very  grave,  and 
I  thought  was  as  near  angry  as  I  ever  saw  her. 
*'When  we  reached  the  shore,  Maudie  and  I 
took  off  Mamma's  skates,  went  with  her  to  the 
carriage,  and  then  turned  back  and  soon  overtook 
Mr.  Hartzell  and  Mrs.  Somers.  They  seemed  very 
busily  engaged  talking  to  each  other.  Mr.  Hart- 
zell appeared  to  have  lost  all  his  gay  spirits, 
and  the  spin  he  had  promised  Mrs.  Somers  was 
hardly  faster  than  we  girls  had  given  her  before. 
Maudie  and  I  concluded  we  would  not  disturb 
them,  so  we  joined  hands  and  went  up  with 
just  a  bow  and  a  smile  so  as  not  to  seem  to 
avoid  them.  AUie  and  Edgar  were  by  them- 
selves ahead  of  us,  Bobbie  having  struck  out 
by  himself  toward  the  shore.  It  was  just  where 
the  big  creek  runs  in — above  Parker's.  Bobbie 
was  evidently  trying  to  get  a  nearer  view  of  the 
falls.  The  water  was  pouring  over  the  big  dam 
at  a  great  rate,  and  I  noticed  that  the  sunshine 
formed  a  beautiful  iris  in  the  spray  rising  up 
from    the    rocks    below.     Maudie    was    laughing 


4:26  BLACK  ICE. 

about  *  lovers  to  right  of  us,  lovers  to  left 
of  us,*  and  we  were  having  a  very  good 
time,  when  all  at  once  I  remembered  that  you 
had  cautioned  me  never  to  go  near  the  mouth 
of  the  ere  .<:  upon  the  ice,  because  you  said  its 
waters  coaiing  from  living  springs  were  much 
warmer  than  those  of  the  river,  and  flowing  into 
it  just  above  the  point  made  the  ice  in  the 
bay  unsafe.  I  had  heard  Edgar  speak  of  this, 
too,  in  one  of  the  disquisitions  which  he  is  al- 
most as  fond  of  making  as  you.  I  didn't  think 
there  was  much  danger  so  far  as  Bobbie  was 
concerned,  for  he  is  only  a  light  little  fellow 
anyhow,  but  I  saw  he  was  going  close  in  shore, 
and  called  to  him  to  come  back.  I  suppose  I 
must  have  been  a  little  excited,  though  I  didn't 
know  it,  but  Maudie  says  my  quiet  call  was 
an  ear-piercing  scream.  At  any  rate  Edgar 
heard  me,  and  looking  around  saw  Bobbie, 
whom  of  course  he  had  forgotten,  as  was  natural 
enough,  having  Allie  with  him.  No  sooner 
did  he  note  where  Bobbie  had  strayed,  however, 
than  he  gave  a  shout  that  might  have  been 
heard  down  at  the  landing,  and  then  started 
for  him  like  an  arrow.  I  think  he  went  faster 
than  Mr.  Hartzell  could  with  all  his  skill.  I 
was  frightened   then,    for   I   felt    sure    that    if   he 


TOLD   BY    rO-MORROW.  427 

went    where     Bobbie    was,    the    ice,    which    might 
be     strong    enough     for     the     boy    alone,    would 
break  under  the  weight  of  both,  so  I  screamed  to 
Edgar    to  stop.     I    meant    to    scream     this     time, 
but  he    paid    no  more    attention    to    i   v    warning 
than    a  locomotive   might.     I  was  sure   there  was 
going    to    be    an   accident,    and  remembered  your 
injunction    to   just    stop    and  think    what  I  could 
do.     So    I    stood  still,    and    looked   up   and  down 
the    river,  thinking  what   might  be    done  to  help 
them    out    if    they    should     break    through,    as    I 
was    sure    they    would.     Just    then  Bobbie    threw 
up    his    arms    and    fell.     I    don't    know   whether 
the    ice    really   had     given    way    under    him    or 
not,    but    Edgar    evidently    thought    it    had,    and 
so    did   Mrs.   Somers.     She  and   Mr.   Hartzell    had 
come    up     while     these     things     were    going   on. 
Maudie  was  wringing  her   hands,  but  never  say- 
ing   a    word,    and    I    was    standing    still,    looking 
around    and    doing   nothing.     Just  as  Bobbie  fell, 
Mrs.    Somers    shrieked    like    a    wild    woman,   and 
would  have   jumped    off    the    chair    if    Mr.    Hart- 
zell   had    not   held    her   back.     He  spoke  sharply 
to    her,  but    she    sprang   up    again,    her    face    as 
pale   as    death,  and   started  toward   the  boy,  cry- 
ing out: 

"  *  Bobbie  !      Bobbie,   my  child  !     Mr.    Hartzell 
save  him  !  ' 


'42S  BLACK   ICE. 

*'  I  turned  just  in  time  to  see  Mr.  Hartzell 
press  her  back  into  the  chair,  and  observed  that 
he  said  something  to  her.  though  I  could  not 
catch  tlie  words.  His  face  was  as  pale  as 
death,  and  his  lips  shut  tight  with  so  stern  a 
look    about    them   that  I  was    really  frightened. 

''By  that  time  Edgar  had  reached  Bobbie,  and 
there  was  no  doubt  about  the  ice  having  given 
way.  They  were  both  in  the  water.  Edgar  re- 
membered your  experience,  for  he  had  hardly 
come  to  the  surface  before  he  pushed  Bobbie 
up  on  the  ice  ;  but  the  little  fellow  didn't  seem 
to  have  sense  enough  to  roll  away.  I  suppose 
he  had  strangled,  though  I  only  thought  then 
that  he  might  be  chilled.  While  I  stood  look- 
ing on,  I  saw  Mr.  Hartzell  glide  down  toward 
them  as  if  he  had  been  a  spirit.  As  he  came 
near,  Edgar  raised  his  hand  and  motioned  him 
back.  Hartzell  turned  his  toes  out  to  stop  himself, 
paused  just  a  second,  then  lay  down  on  the  ice  and 
drew  himself  carefully  but  quickly  toward  the 
opening.  We  all  stood  still  and  watched  them 
breathlessly,  expecting  every  minute  to  see  the  ice 
break  under  him.  But  he  worked  himself  nearer 
and  nearer  until  he  caught  hold  of  one  of  the 
boy's  feet,  and  then  gradually  crawled  back  toward 
firm  ice.     Then  he  raised  himself  up,  turned  Bob- 


TOLD   BY    TO-MORROW.  429 

bie  over  in  his  arms,  looked  in  his  face  an  instant, 
gave  him  a  shake,  and  rushed  like  the  wind  back 
to  Mrs.  Somers.  She  held  out  her  arms;  he 
dropped  the  boy  into  them,  turned  the  chair 
about,  and    sped    down    the    river. 

"When  Maudie  saw  him  coming  back  with 
Bobbie  in  his  arms,  she  started  toward  him, 
and  was  standing  beside  the  chair  when  he  reached 
it.  I  think  I  was  too  frightened  to  move  at  all,  and 
just  stood  and  looked  on  like  a  dunce.  Edgar 
watched  Hartzell's  motions  anxiously,  not  making 
any  attempt  to  get  out  himself  until  they  went  off 
toward  the  landing,  leaving  the  rest  of  us  looking 
after  them, — Edgar  in  the  water,  and  Allie  and  I  on 
the  ice.  I  think  they  must  have  got  half  way  to 
the  landing  before  I  fairly  recovered  myself.  Then 
I  heard  Allie  scream,  and  saw  her  start  toward 
Edgar.  He  had  tried  to  get  out,  and  the  ice  had 
broken  under  him  just  as  it  did  with  you.  I 
caught  Allie  as  she  was  rushing  toward  him, 
and  told  her  she  must  not  go  any  nearer  or 
she  would  break  through  the  ice,  and  Edgar  would 
be  a  good  deal  worse  off  than  he  was  already. 

"While  I  v/as  thinking  when  we  first  came  on 
the  ice  what  I  ought  to  do  in  case  an  accident 
should  occur,  I  remembered  there  was  a  fence 
Close   down  by  the    river  bank  on  the  west  side; 


430  BLACK  ICE. 

so  as  soon  as  I  could  quiet  Allie  I  started  across 
the  river  to  get  a  board.  It  is  an  old  fence,  but  I 
never  did  see  nails  hold  as  well,  or  posts  keep  so 
sound  !  I  tried  my  best  to  pull  off  two  or  three  of 
the  long  narrov/  boards,  but  could  not  start  one 
of  them.  I  saw  a  block  of  wood  on  the  other 
side,  however,  and  clambering  over  I  got  that,  and 
soon  managed  to  pound  off  one  of  the  longest 
I  could  find.  Then  I  crawled  through  the  open- 
ing this  left  in  the  fence,  scrambled  down  to  the 
shore  again  over  the  loose  stones,  falling  two  or 
three  times  on  the  way,  and  made  the  best  time  I 
could  across  the  river  where  Edgar  was  '  amusing  ' 
himself,  as  he  said  afterward,  'breaking  ice,'  while 
Allie  stood  a  little  way  off,  washing  her  hands  with 
her  tears.  I  remembered  your  instructions,  and 
was  very  careful  how  I  went  near  the  thin  edge.  I 
didn't  want  to  get  in  myself,  and  I  did  want  to 
get  Edgar  out,  especially  because  that  was  what 
my  mamma  did,  you   know. 

"So  when  I  came  near  I  imitated  Mr.  Hartzell, 
lying  down  on  the  ice  and  pushing  the  board 
in  front  of  me  toward  Edgar.  It  was  no  job  at 
all,  and  no  sort  of  danger,  for  the  board  must 
have  been  twenty  feet  long.  So  I  easily  got  it 
within  his  reach  and  held  the  end  of  it, — though 


TOLD   BY    TO-MORROW.  431 

the  nails  would  have  done  that  just  as  well  if  I 
had  not  been  there, — while  Edgar  crawled  out 
and  crept  along  it  for  all  the  world  like  a  big  musk- 
rat  on  a  log.  I  could  not  help  laughing  to  see 
the  water  drop  off  from  him  and  hear  his  teeth 
chatter  as  he  came  near.  Of  course,  I  was 
sorry  for  him,  but  it  was  awfully  funny.  He 
had  not  lost  his  head  a  bit,  though,  and  before 
he  had  come  half  the  length  of  it  began  calling 
to  me  to  '  Go  away!  Go  back! '  This  I  was 
willing  enough  to  do;  and  Allie  edged  off  too, 
standing  a  few  rods  away,  with  her  hands  clasped, 
begging  him  to  be  careful, — as  if  he  were  not  as 
safe  on  that  board  as  if  he  had  been  on  dry  land  ! 
When  he  got  off  the  board,  however,  he  still 
kept  on  crawling  until  he  got  away  back  on  the 
solid  ice.  Then  he  straightened  up  and  began  to 
feel  about  on  his  skates,  as  if  he  was  not  quite 
sure  whether  his  legs  were  under  him  or  not.  I 
was  about  twenty  steps  from  him,  very  sorry 
of  course  for  his  misfortune,  but  he  did  look  so 
comical  that  I  could  not  help  laughing.  Allie  did 
not  laugh,  though;  she  just  said: 

'"Why,  Bertha,  how  can  you  be  so  cruel?' 
"  Then  she  dashed  up  to  Edgar,  caught  him  about 
the    neck,    kissed    him    right    there    on    the    open 


432  BLACK  ICE. 

river,  and  started  for  the  landing  with  him  as 
if  he  had  been  a  baby  left  in  her  special  charg.\ 
They  did  not  seem  to  have  any  further  need 
for  my  services,  so  I  skated  along  behind  them 
and  whistled  '  Comin'  thro'  the  Rye '  for  their 
entertainment. 

"There  isn't  any  use,  Papa;  there's  no  chance 
of  my  following  in  my  mother's  footsteps  as 
you  have  so  often  predicted  that  I  would.  I 
saved  my  man;  but  he  was  the  other  girl's  fel- 
low, and  I  am  sure  I  shall  always  like  him  a 
good  dqal  better  as  a  cousin  than  I  ever  should 
as  a  sweetheart.  Still,  he  is  very  nice,  and  if 
I  ever  should  have  a  lover,  I  think  I  should 
want   him    to   be   very    much    like    Allie's. 

"Edgar  was  very  soon  all  right,  and  I  think 
rather  pleased  with  his  part  of  the  adventure,  as  he 
had  a  good  right  to  be.  We  found  Dr.  Colton  at 
the  house,  who  berated  his  grandson  in  his  comical 
way,  without  stopping  to  inquire  about  his  health 
any  more  than  if  he  had  been  a  dog.  In  fact  there 
was  no  necessity  to  do  so.  It  didn't  need  the 
doctor's  keen  eyes  to  see  how  the  land  lay  be- 
tween him  and  Allie,  but  it  was  very  affecting 
to  see  him  clasp  her  hand,  pushing  back  her 
cap  and   laying  his  other   hand  upon  her  golden 


TOLD  BY    TO-MORROW.  433 

curls  as  if  he  were  about  to  invoke  a  blessing 
upon  her,  saying  in  choking  tones,  his  great 
black  eyes  twinkling  through  the  tears: 

"  '  So  "  deep  waters  cannot  part  them  "!  But  you 
must  take  better  care  than  that  of  him,  Allie, 
my  girl.' 

"So  we  all  say  our  AUie's  engaged,  Papa,  but 
I  don't  believe  Edgar's  ever  made  any  declara- 
tion at  all. 

"  Mrs.  Somers  seemed  to  have  just  lost  her 
wits  over  Bobbie.  Mamma  says  that  when  Mr. 
Hartzell  brought  him  to  the  door  she  caught  the 
child  out  of  his  arms  and  said: 

'"Get  the  doctor!'  as  if  he  had  been  a  servant. 

"  She  carried  Bobbie  up  to  her  own  room,  and 
before  the  doctor  arrived  had  him  so  nearly  re- 
stored that  Dr.  Colton  said  it  was  just  trifling 
with  the  dignity  of  the  profession  to  send  for 
a  physician  when  he  was  not  needed.  Of  course 
everybody  in  the  house  helped,  but  Mamma  says 
Mrs.  Somers  was  so  masterful  that  nobody  else 
did  anything  except  obey  her  directions,  and  you 
know  it  takes  a  good  deal  of  self-assertion  to  su- 
persede Mamima  under  her  own  roof-tree.  Mrs. 
Somers  insisted  on  telegraphing  for  Mr.  Twining 
without  delay,  though    Mamma   thought  it  quite 


434  BLACK  ICE. 

unnecessary,  and  Maudie  drove  to  the  station 
to  send  a  dispatch,  returning  just  in  time  to  pick 
us  up  on  the  way  from  the  river.  So  you  see  we 
brought  '  the  conquering  hero '  home  in  good 
style  despite  his  frozen  garments  and  chattering 
teeth. 

"I  drove  down  to  the  train  to  meet  Mr. 
Twining,  when  he  arrived,  with  strict  orders 
from  Mamma  to  tell  him  as  soon  as  he  set 
foot  on  the  platform  not  to  be  alarmed.  Maudie 
had  simply  telegraphed  'Come  at  once,'  and  we 
supposed  he  would  be  frightened  half  to  death 
about  Bobbie.  When  he  got  off  the  train  his  face 
Avas  as  white  as  a  sheet,  his  hand  trembled  as 
he  caught  mine,  and  his  voice  was  so  hoarse 
I   could    hardly  recognize   it   as   he    said: 

" '  What  is  it  ?  Is  anything  the  matter  with 
her?' 

^'^IIer?'\  asked.     'Whom    do   you    mean?' 
"  *  Why,  Mrs. — Som — Compton — of   course  !  * 
"'Why,  nothing  in  the  world,'  said  I,  and  then 
I  told    him  what  had   happened. 

"Don't  you   think  he  acted  very  queer?" 


If   I   did,  I  never   told   Bertha;   but   when  next 


TOLD  BY   TO-MORROW.  435 

I  saw  Hester,  I  did  hint  that  black  ice  was 
not  so  dangerous  as  some  people  thought,  after 
all.  She  shook  her  head,  and  a  sad  look  came 
into  her  eyes,  as  she  said  it  seemed  that  true 
happiness  could  be  purchased  only  by  an  equiv- 
alent of  pain.  I  did  not  controvert  her  philos- 
ophy, but  wondered  whether  the  price  we  pay 
for  happiness  deserves  always  so  harsh  a  name. 
Nature  rarely  makes  the  pathway  to  her  hidden 
treasures  an  easy  one,  but  he  who  has  once  found 
them,  prizes  his  possession  all  the  more,  I  fancy, 
for   the   difficulties   he   has   overcome. 


THE    END. 


BEECHER  AS  a  HUMORIST. 

Anecdotes,   and   Excerpts   of   Wit   and    Humor   from 
HENHY   WARD   BEECHER. 

Compiled  by  Eleanor  Kirk.     i6mo.     Vellum  Cloth,  $i. 


"  Miss  Kirk  calls  Beecher  the  most 
spontaneous  humorist  that  America 
has  known,  and  we  are  not  disposed  to 
dispute  the  claim,  large  as  it  is.  Let 
the  objector  to  it  name  his  superior." — 
The  Atnerican,  Philadelphia. 

"  Taken  largely  from  his  spoken 
words,  and  therefore  new  to  the  pub- 
lic."— Boston  T}-aveller. 

"  Worth  a  library  of  Josh  Billings  or 
Mark  Twains,  and  as  instructive  as  it 
is  amusing." — U'ohmus  Journal^  Bos- 
ton. 

"  Extracts  which  now  please  the  in- 


tellect, and  now  tickle  the  fancy  into 
merriment,  but  wliich  never  fail  to 
touch  the  heart  of  some  eternal  truth." 
Pro  z'  idc  nee  Jo  it  rnal. 

"  Hundreds  of  themes  and  thoughts, 
and  every  one  with  a  whip-crack  in  it." 
Texas  Siffiugs. 

"God  himself  made  Henry  Ward 
Beecher  a  humorist,  gave  him  a  tnste 
for  comedy,  and  enriched  him  viih  ihe 
grace  of  playfulness.  He  prayeu  ilie 
better  that  he  laughed  so  well.  His 
tears  were  the  tenderer  because  his 
humor  was  so  spontaneous  and  abund- 
ant."— Dr.  Parker's  Eulogy. 


ROYAL    TRUTHS, 

Caught    from    the     Spoken    Words     of  Henry  Ward 
Beecher. 

Bound  uniform  with  "  Beecher  as  a  Humorist."      Vellum  Cloth,  $1.25, 

This  is  a  new  issue  of  an  old  favorite  among  Beecher-lovers.  which 
has  been  long  out  of  print.  Mr.  Beecher  found  it  all  made  uid  and 
selling  its  sixth  thousand  in  England  when  he  went  there  in  1^63,  he 
having  never  heard  of  its  c<)mpilation.  He  brought  it  home  and  haJ  it 
published  in  1S64,  but  it  was  superseded  by  the  flood  of  other  good 
things  he  continually  poured  out.  Now  he  is  gone,  and  his  friends 
may  well  prize  this  rich  volume,  aptly  named  "  Royal  Truths." 


PATRIOTIC  ADDRESSES 

IN   AMERICA   AND   ENGLAND,    1850-1885, 

On  Slavery,  Civil  War  and  the   Development  of   Civil  Libert: 
in  the  United  States. 

By  henry  ward  BEECHER. 

Edited,  with  a  "  Review  of  Mr.  Beecher's  Personality  and  Influence 
in  Public  Affairs,  "by  John  R.  Howard.  858  pp.,  8  vo.  IllMstrated  loith 
Portraits.  Clo.,  $2.75;  clo.,  gilt,  $3.25;  half  mor,  $,  4.25.  {Stibsaiption.) 

A   Thesaurus   of  American  Bistory,  Politics   and    Literature. 


FORDS,  HOWARD,  &  HULBERT, 

27  Park  Place.  New  Yorh, 


FACE  TO  FACE  WITH  THE  MEXICANS: 


THE 


Domestic  Life,  Educational,  Social,  and  Business  Ways, 

Statesmanship  and  Literature,  Legendary  and 

General  History  of  the  Mexican  People, 

As  Seen  and   Studied  Toy  an  American  "Woman  During  Seven 
Years  of  Tamiliar  Intercourse  with  them. 


By  FANNY  CHAMBERS  GOOCH. 


With  200  Illustrations  from  Original  Drawings  and  Photographs, 

Giving-  a  Complete  Picturesque  Delineation  of  Interesting  and  Beautiful 

Places,  Famous  Heroes,  Rulers  and  Authors,  and  a  multiplicity  of 

the  detail  of  every  day  life  among  that  unique  people. 

The  Mexicans  are  very  chary  of  admitting  foreign  men  into  their 
homes,  but  a  cultivated  and  intelligent  American  7uoinan  (such  as  Mrs, 
Gooch  is),  properly  introduced  (as  she  was,  through  the  most  dis- 
tinguished people  of  their  nation),  they  receive  with  open-hearted  hos- 
pitality. Thus  our  author  had  unexampled  opportunities  for  observation 
in  her  kindly  task. 

Dr.  H.  Chaun'CEY  Riley,  the  Bishop  of  Mexico  for  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church,  and  Mrs.  Cornelia  Townsend.  who  has  resided 
in  the  City  of  Mexico  for  many  years,  in  constant  intimacy  Avith  the 
best  people  of  the  nation,  are  both  familiar  with  the  life  and  eminently 
capable  of  judging  of  the  accuracy  of  the  portraiture. 

They  both  offer  cordial  commendatory  letters  which  give  not  only  a 
comprehensive  idea  of  the  labor  which  Mrs.  GoocH  undertook  in 
making  this  book,  but  valuable  testimony  to  the  fact  that  the  work  has 
been  sticcessfully  and  brilliantly  accofupiished. 

A  Treasury  of  Romance,  Legend,  History,  Picturesque  Des- 
cription, Valuable  Information,  and  Genial  Humor. 

It  is  also  Beautifulli/  Illnsfrafed,  Brillianflv  Printed, 

and    IlU-Jtli/  BoiirnU     English  Cloth,  plain  edges  ;  English  Cloth, 
gilt  edges  ;  Half  Morocco,  gilt  edges. 

SOLD  ONLY  BY  SUBSCRIPTION.       SEND  FOE  CIRCULAR. 


For  copy  or  agency,  address 

FORDS,  HOWARD,  &  HULBERT, 

27  ParU   Place,  Netv  York. 


/«■ 


/4 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED    | 
LOAN  DEPT. 


This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 

Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


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Berkeley 


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THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


